The Future Hospitality Summit (FHS) Saudi Arabia will host this year the region’s first NextGen Investment Forum to address the challenges and opportunities surrounding education, training and talent retention in the Kingdom’s growing hospitality sectors.
The event will take place on the first day of FHS Saudi Arabia, May 11, with more than 30 speakers set to take part. Through a series of curated roundtable discussions, the forum will bring together key industry stakeholders to address the most pressing challenges in hospitality education and retention with a focus on solution-oriented conversations and actionable outcomes to help shape the future of hospitality education and workforce development.
Vision 2030 boosts hospitality and tourism growth
Investing in the next generation of leaders in hospitality is fundamental to delivering Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 goals, according to industry experts, who will come together at FHS’s NextGen Investment Forum to explore and discuss issues such as bridging skill gaps, creating new pathways to career growth, empowering Saudi nationals and encouraging more women to take up a career in hospitality.
“By 2030, KSA’s hospitality and tourism transformation will create more than a million new jobs, deliver 320,000 new hotel rooms, and inject around $46 billion into the country’s economy. And with Saudi Arabia set to welcome 150 million annual tourists in the next five years, it goes without saying that the right investment today is key to creating the hospitality leaders of tomorrow,” stated Jonathan Worsley, chairman of FHS organizer The Bench.
NextGen Investment Forum to focus on four main themes
The NextGen Investment Forum aims to help develop a knowledgeable, capable workforce through partnerships with government entities, giga projects, universities, international education industry leaders and innovative tech companies, in turn creating a comprehensive ecosystem that supports education and career development. The initiative will also facilitate public-private partnerships to drive innovation and investment in education.
Discussions at the NextGen Investment Forum will focus on four main themes: investing in people for a future-ready hospitality industry; bridging the gap between academia and industry needs; exploring funding and investment opportunities in hospitality education; and enhancing the industry’s appeal to retain talent. AI, remote working, the design of student housing and boosting the number of women in the industry – currently only 8 percent of the total workforce – are also on the agenda.
The first confirmed speakers for the NextGen Investment Forum include Dr. Abeer A. Alamri, Strategic Planning and Monitoring Deputyship, Ministry of Tourism; Dr. Fabien Fresnel, Chief Executive Officer, Riyadh School of Tourism and Hospitality; A.J Singh, Founding Director, Hospitality and Tourism Management, and Lameese Damiri, Head of Education, UNTO.
“We are proud to launch this first-of-its-kind initiative at FHS Saudi Arabia and look to drawing inspiration from highly respected industry experts during an afternoon of collaboration, insight and actionable solutions to shape the future of KSA’s hospitality industry,” added Worsley.
Held in Riyadh from May 11-13, FHS Saudi Arabia will be hosted this year under the overarching theme “Where Vision Shapes Opportunity”. More than 1,400 delegates are expected to attend.
