Silversea’s second Nova-class ship, Silver Ray, celebrated a successful float out at the Meyer Werft shipyard in Papenburg, Germany on February 25, as she nears her debut sailing scheduled in June this year.
Silver Ray will then spend her inaugural season in the Mediterranean, before crossing the Atlantic in December.
The float out marks a significant milestone in a ship’s construction, representing the project’s advancement into its final stages. Now nearing completion – approximately 15 months since Meyer Werft first cut steel for the ship – Silver Ray is the sixth addition to Silversea’s fleet in just three years.
“With the float out of Silver Ray, excitement is building for the launch of the second ship in our pioneering Nova-class,” said Silversea president Barbara Muckermann.
“We received such incredibly strong feedback on Silver Nova from guests, travel advisors, and members of the press following her launch in August 2023. Sustaining the wave of innovation that is driving our success, the launch of Silver Ray will strengthen Royal Caribbean Group’s unwavering commitment to delivering a lifetime of vacations for guests, with its industry-leading global brands.”
With pioneering energy efficiency standards, Silver Nova and Silver Ray are 40 per cent more energy efficient than required international standards and regulations. On board, guests enjoy the brand’s hallmarks of luxury with a range of enhancements, including all-new venues and suite options, new Otium wellness experiences and amenities, and enrichments to the S.A.L.T. culinary programme, with the introduction of the S.A.L.T. Chef’s Table.
While the tourism sector in Singapore is poised for growth following recovery from the pandemic, a new NTUC LearningHub report found that business leaders are kept awake by five key challenges, three of which relate to human resources.
Key findings from NTUC LearningHub’s Industry Insights Report 2024 on Tourism revealed that the top challenges are changes in travel behaviour/spending (63 per cent); existing employees lacking the depth of skills required to cater to the changing trends (57 per cent); a shortage of tourism professionals (53 per cent); employees being unwilling to take on training (45 per cent); and travellers only visiting Singapore for seasonal events (44 per cent).
Despite these challenges, only 48 per cent of leaders in the tourism sector have sent their employees for tourism-related training, with nearly 29 per cent expressing the intention to do so in the future and 23 per cent not intending to do so at all.
Amid emerging trends in tourism – such as the increased use of technology in tourism (76 per cent), demand for greater service excellence (66 per cent), the growing importance of holistic wellness travel and regenerative tourism (40 per cent), and increased demand for the practice of sustainability in tourism (37 per cent) – nearly all tourism leaders (51 per cent strongly agree, 43 per cent somewhat agree) perceive that these trends create more job opportunities in the market.
In fact, almost 77 per cent of them are keen to hire talent to fill tourism job roles. The top job roles according to tourism leaders are marketing communications officers (32 per cent), administrative staff (30 per cent), and event managers/executives/specialists (28 per cent).
With organisations currently employing technologies like contactless payment options (69 per cent), AI chatbots (38 per cent), cybersecurity (31 per cent), big data (27 per cent), and IoT management (14 per cent), leaders in the sector are keen to send their employees for training in areas of digital/technology (79 per cent). This is followed by other training areas such as service engagement (77 per cent), sustainability (41 per cent), and holistic wellness travel and regenerative tourism (26 per cent).
In terms of service excellence, 70 per cent of tourism leaders strongly agree that tourism professionals need to upskill to enhance service experience, as only three per cent of leaders consider the quality of service in Singapore’s tourism sector as excellent. On the other hand, more than half of tourism leaders (52 per cent) consider it to be only average or below.
In addition, 75 per cent of tourism leaders reveal that their organisation intends to incorporate sustainability in their tourism offerings. Currently, energy conversion (63 per cent), sustainable waste management (58 per cent), sustainable sourcing and procurement (56 per cent), carbon footprint management (53 per cent), and water conservation (50 per cent) are the top sustainability measures organisations employ.
At present, only 15 per cent of tourism leaders are very familiar with holistic wellness and regenerative tourism, while 53 per cent are somewhat familiar. Despite that, about nine in ten agree (29 per cent strongly agree, 64 per cent somewhat agree) that it is important for Singapore to expand into holistic wellness travel and regenerative tourism.
Commenting on the report findings, Tay Ee Learn, chief sector skills officer, NTUC LearningHub, said: “In this dynamic landscape, tourism organisations must embrace transformation and align their business strategies with emerging trends to gain a competitive edge. It is paramount that these organisations shift their focus from merely filling job roles to skills upgrading to arm their workforce for new and redesigned job roles in the future workplace. By identifying skills gaps in the current workforce, communicating the urgency of upskilling and reskilling to employees, and providing readily available training opportunities, organisations can cultivate a conducive environment that facilitates the continuous learning and development of workers; thereby, securing a highly competent and motivated talent pool.”
The NTUC LearningHub’s Industry Insights Report 2024 on Tourism surveyed 167 business leaders in the tourism sector and interviews with experts from the Singapore Tourism Board, Workforce Singapore, and Resorts World Sentosa, and explores the sentiments towards hiring, training, and in-demand skills among leaders within the tourism sector.