The third edition of Idea-cation, aiming to promote entrepreneurship and innovative thinking among young people, concluded on 12 November. The event, organised by IFTM, challenged participants to devise strategies to contribute to the sustainable development of the tourism industry
A rural-revitalisation strategy to transform a traditional Chinese village through tourism earned 2 teams first place at the Idea-cation 2023 – Tourism Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition, organised by IFTM. This year’s event was held under the theme ‘Regional Development via Innovative Tourism Strategy’.
All participating teams were given the choice of 2 themes: how to make the most of Macao’s ‘1+4’ economic diversification strategy to drive an engaging tourism experience; or to devise the team’s own strategy for revitalising Hengmei village in Zhongshan, within Guangdong, the Mainland province next door to Macao.
“The crucial thing about Idea-cation is that it’s very fluid: the theme can change according to the social situation,” said one of the organisers, IFTM Entrepreneurship course leader Dr Fernando Lourenço.
Idea-cation 2023 was divided into 2 categories in terms of contestant: one for high school students from Form 4 to 6; and one for university students. A total of 22 teams – including 6 teams in the high school category – took part, involving in aggregate 79 individuals. Each team had to have a minimum of 2 members; the maximum per team were 5 students.
The competition began on 21 October, with all participants going on a one-day trip to Hengmei that included a visit to a business-incubation centre in Zhongshan. The trip sought to give teams firsthand understanding of the village’s tourism development potential.
It was after this trip that the University (Open) Category winners decided to choose that theme for their competition entry. “Tourism development can be very meaningful because it can promote the economy of a place and, at the same time, better protect its culture,” the 2 students from the winning City University of Macau (CityU) team said.
After all the contestant teams had been on the Hengmei trip, they worked with 16 mentors from the industry and from IFTM to develop innovative business proposals according to the theme of their choice. The overall aim of the proposals was to enhance a destination’s regional economy through tourism, while incorporating hospitality, events, retail, and culinary aspects.
Contestant teams presented their proposals on 12 November to a judging panel consisting of 8 industry experts and 4 IFTM faculty members.
The winning team in the open category put forward a proposal to turn the whole of Hengmei village into a ‘community museum’. “There are no walls or ceilings. Just walk around and see things directly with your own eyes instead of seeing things kept behind glass at a conventional museum,” they said.
Also in the open category, a team of Macau University of Science and Technology students took the silver prize, while an IFTM team took bronze.
In the high school category, a team from Colégio Diocesano de São José 6 (CDSJ 6) won the gold prize. Silver went to Santa Rosa de Lima English Secondary School, while a group of students from Santa Rosa de Lima Secondary School (Chinese Section) got bronze.
The students from CDSJ 6 proposed to “renew some of the buildings, and create street food souvenirs that are unique” to Hengmei village. “We all thought this topic is quite interesting: giving tourists a reason to go there,” they said.
The Idea-cation competition was launched in 2021 by IFTM, to “develop an entrepreneurial and innovative mindset among people,” said Dr Lourenço.
Idea-cation aims to position itself as a platform for creativity among young people, with the aim of helping the tourism industry seek new business opportunities and find innovative and viable solutions. It encourages young people to engage in entrepreneurial approaches, to identify key contextual elements of a destination – such as heritage and culture – and transform them into value-added components.
“We ask participants to think about things that can matter to them,” said Dr Lourenço. At the same time, the students know they themselves “can have an impact”.
Idea-cation 2023 also included a series of seminars conducted by industry professionals concerning topics such as government policies on entrepreneurship, rural tourism development, doing business in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and in the city of Zhongshan, and key tourism resources. The seminars were in order better to prepare the teams for the competition.
IFTM President Dr Fanny Vong Chuk Kwan presented the awards to the winning teams. Dr Vong said she was impressed by the performance of this year’s participants. She also took the opportunity to thank the mentors and judges for their valuable support.
“Their proposals offered thoughtful and creative solutions to improve tourism experiences and rural revitalisation. IFTM is always looking to nurture the next generation of tourism leaders, problem-solvers and future entrepreneurs,” she said. “Competitions like Idea-cation provide real-world learning opportunities for students to develop practical solutions that support local communities and economies.”
