Does The Smart Tourism Experience in Malaysia Increase Local Tourists' Happiness and Revisit Intentions?

Nowadays, the term "smart" has become popular in reflecting technological advancements in social and economic improvement, as well as knowledge and information exchange. The advent of smart technology has empowered everything to be more connected, informed, and conveniently involved with clients, especially in the global tourism industry. Malaysia, on the other hand, has less research on the use of smart tourism since it is still in the early stages of development, and tourism locations are still seeking their own rhythm to thrive. In addition, there is a lack of a specific framework, numerous global-scale crises with negative impacts on tourist arrivals and the environment, and poor digitalization, which has resulted in a drop-off in tourist experiences and tourism development. This study was carried out to investigate whether local tourists are satisfied with the smart tourism technology experience in Malaysia and to explore whether smart tourism technology has a positive effect on tourists’ happiness. An online questionnaire was created using Google Form, distributed through WhatsApp, Telegram, Facebook, Instagram from May 1, 2021, to August 1, 2021, and completed by 529 participants. The results suggested the majority (> 90%) of local tourists in Malaysia found difficulty searching for information about the local attractions in each state of Malaysia during travel, which caused a greater decline in their excitement to do local traveling. With reliable centralized mobile apps that exist for all tourism sectors in Malaysia, research finding showed that it could increase tourist’s revisit intention and happiness, which consequently boosts the revenue of the economy. &nbsp

Fostering global talent among students in Universiti Teknologi Malaysia via study abroad programme

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) is continuing its quest to become the nation’s top educational institution which is translated in one of the six Key Focus Areas (KFAs) in UTM Global Plan 2020 namely Global Prominence and Branding. As a one of the leading research universities in Malaysia, UTM also plays an important roles to produce a top-notch talent, attracting, developing and retaining high skilled individuals to propel into the future. Study Abroad Programme via UTM Outbound Mobility Program is one of the tools to produce global talent among students in UTM. This programme plays a crucial roles in ensuring UTM becoming one of the internationalized university in Asian region in achieving Malaysia Higher Education agenda to become an Education Hub in 2025. This study abroad programme comprises of both inbound and outbound. For UTM Outbound Mobility program, it is comprises of short term program and long term program including Global Outreach Program (GOP), International Invitation Program (conference, seminar, competition etc.) (IIP), Summer School Abroad (SSA), Research Internship Abroad (RIA) and Student Exchange Program (SEA). One of the initiatives is by encouraging at least ten percent of the total number of UTM students to experience cultural immersion via global education agenda by going abroad. This initiative will give value added elements to the students’ life long learning