My Learning Development Plan: A Closer Look into My Lifes Objectives - Essay Example

of Bedfordshire My Learning Development Plan A Closer Look Into My Life’s Objectives Waleed Al Abri Who am I? Whenever I try to define myself, I would always go back to the place that molded a great part of my life and character. As a child, I am blessed to have lived comfortably in an orderly family and society. Having grown up in the sultanate state of Oman, my childhood is mainly shaped by my faithful adherence to Islam. This means that I believe in God whose proper name is Allah and I live my life in accordance with the teachings of the holy Qur’an. With this, I could say that my Islamic upbringing defines most of the things I do in life. It allowed me to live with a sense of purpose – that is to find peace within myself and to do good things towards other people, especially my countrymen. While growing up, I began to discover the beauty of my country through frequent family trips headed by my father. Together, we would explore the beauty of Oman’s countryside by taking a long hike at Jebel Akhdar or Wadi Shab. Other times, we would go strolling, kite surfing, or swimming at Qurum or Marjan beach. It was through these memorable experiences that I realized how Oman could potentially boost its tourism sector and become a major travel destination in the Middle East. While the oil industry mainly contributes to Oman’s economy, tapping my country’s tourism sector is a way to diversify the economy (Javedanfar, 2005). As such, it has been one of my aspirations to see the influx of tourists who will greatly enjoy the natural and ancient wonders of my country. With this aim comes my desire to seek an education abroad so that I can learn more about promoting my country as a major tourism hub in the Middle East. Thus, in October 2011, I took a big step of deciding to study Tourism and Travel in the UK in order to increase my knowledge about further enhancing Oman’s tourism industry. I believe that the memories of my travelling experiences back home have always strengthened my conviction that Oman can achieve its potential as a major tourist destination in the future. How Did I Get Where I Am Today? One of the major decisions I made in life is to study abroad and live miles away from my family. I view this decision as a necessary step to fulfill my goal in eventually contributing to the development of my country’s tourism. I truly believe that Oman has the potential to become a major travel destination in the Middle East. This strong conviction on the development of Oman’s tourism comes from the memorable experiences I had back in my homeland. As one of the organizers of Muscat Festival, I was able to witness the growing potential of showcasing Oman’s arts, music, and culture to the rest of the world. Together with my countrymen, I was there to oversee the event and ensure that visitors from all over the world were able to enjoy the experience of discovering Oman’s unique culture and heritage. As a result of our effort, the festival has attracted more visitors every year. As reviewed, the festival was able to deliver an event packed with fun, creativity, and information that will showcase the best of what Muscat has to offer (Alkhamyasi, 2012). Remarkably, this cooperative effort among Omani people is not only shared in cultural events but also during times of national crisis. In 2007 and 2010, Oman was hit by two major tropical cyclones, respectively known as Gonu and Phet, which destroyed millions worth of properties (Al-Shaibany, 2010). During these events, I was able to participate in the organization of a charity event which was meant to help those who suffered from the catastrophe. I considered it as an achievement that I was able to contribute something to my country in times of calamity. These contrasting experiences of promoting Oman and helping it in times of disaster have fostered my connection and love for my motherland. Thus, the decision to leave the country was borne out of my desire to contribute in sustaining my country’s progress and maximizing its potential as a global tourism and cultural hub. Where Am I Now? My personal goal to make Oman as one of the tourism capitals of the world may, for now, just be a dream. The main challenge for me is keeping that dream in check and eventually making it a reality. To realize this, it is important for me to know what I have so far achieved when it comes to attaining my aspiration for the development of Oman’s tourism. Currently, I consider my move to pursue an international degree in Tourism and Travel to be the initial step in eventually realizing a bigger goal for Oman’s tourism industry. My decision to study in UK will increase my knowledge and understanding of the travel industry. More importantly, it will contribute to my learning about important insights about marketing and managing tourism-related activities. With this, I am confident to meet the demands in my chosen study because of my experiences as a volunteer and organizer of various community events back in my home country. I am optimistic that these involvements are able to equip me with the right skills in the field of event organizing and marketing. For instance, I seem to be more calm and patient when faced with many from an activity simply because I am getting used to deal with such events. Because of that, I consider being optimistic, calm, and patient to be one of my strengths as revealed on my personal SWOT Analysis (Appendix A). On the other hand, some of my weaknesses include being over critical about my response and this results to not being quick enough to make judgments. I figure that these weaknesses can be placed into opportunities area where critical mindedness is necessary to make long-term tourism plans for Oman possible. Lastly, the threats about my goal to make Oman the tourism capital of the Middle East include competition within the tourism sector from other countries and lack of aggressiveness in the country’s tourism campaign. Where Am I Going? As my current education suggests, I will gain more insights about how to develop and manage tourism and travel industry in a particular setting. Through these learnings, I expect that someday I would be able to contribute on the development of tourism industry in Oman. I aim to apply the knowledge and skills I learned from abroad to improve the tourism-related businesses in my home country. With this, I dream that one day Oman will eventually become the center of tourism in the Middle East. To be more specific about my vision and aspiration, I have set both long term and short term objectives that will serve as the foundation for the realization of my tourism goals for Oman. First, the short term objectives will include 1) initiating plans to further improve the tourism facilities in Omen; 2) encourage partnership and cooperation with key sectors and stakeholders in the tourism industry; 3) create plans to open tourism markets for Oman in different parts of the world; and 4) help develop a 10 year master plan for tourism in the country. On the other hand, my long term objectives will include: 1) helping the country to be known as the tourism capital in the Middle East; 2) making the tourism sector to be one of the major contributor in the economic growth of Oman; and 3) sustaining the growth and development of tourism industry. These objectives should serve as my guide to actualize my dreams in making Oman as one of the best tourism hubs in the Middle East. Given these objectives, I am confident that the learning subjects and activities from my course shall equip me in accomplishing my personal goals. For instance, lectures about business events and project management should prepare me to manage and learn about the basics of event organization and implementation. Also, my learnings on tourism marketing should present ways in which Oman’s tourism will be promoted in the best possible way. What Will Stop Me? Examining both my long term and short term objectives, it cannot be helped to think that there will be obstacles that will hinder me from reaching my goals. For one, I consider my goals and objectives to be quite ambitious and challenging. But because they are so, it becomes my motivation to exert more effort in learning new insights about tourism and travel. I believe that my vision about my country will be my source of inspiration to work more towards increasing my knowledge and skills in tourism management. What I think will impede my drive to reach my goals is myself – specifically, the weaknesses that I have stated in my SWOT analysis (Appendix A). As stated, I am not quick in making decisions over a project work because I am overly critical about every detail of plans and activities. Sometimes, those traits would hinder me from accomplishing my academic tasks because I tend to be critical and indecisive sometimes about projects such as tourism plans or business events. However, I plan to turn those weaknesses into positive attributes. Being critical means I will better examine every plans and activity I come up with. It also means that I will be able to exhaust my ideas in every academic task that I am required to do. Despite my weaknesses, I will still be able to achieve my goals because I am inspired by my country. I am passionate and dedicated to learn more about tourism because I want Oman to exhaust its potential to become the leading tourist capital in the world. As stated in my personal SWOT analysis, I am very optimistic to learn so many things about tourism because I believe that Oman has what it takes to become a major travel destination in the Middle East. I recognize that I need to work hard and endure the demands in the academe. With that, I am ready to make sacrifices to make my dreams for my country a reality. My Commitment I am committed to achieve academic excellence in the field of Travel and Tourism because I have my dreams to make Oman become a tourism hub in the Middle East. I plan to use my learnings in different subject areas of the course to better manage and develop the tourism industry in my country. Also, I expect that an increased knowledge in tourism and travel will enable me to contribute in the tourism-related business in Oman. More specifically, I believe that I will be able to understand tourism better if I will apply my learnings in event and project management to future activities in my home country. Also, acquiring knowledge in sustainable tourism will help me understand the importance of sustaining tourism growth in a country. Moreover, my skills and management will be further enhanced by learning more about culture and society as taught in this course. I believe that the course will hone my skills to become a successful tourism manager who will implement important business and management decisions in my home country (University of Bedfordshire, Course Summary). By focusing in these areas of learning, I will be able to increase my knowledge and understanding about the complexity of tourism industry. In order to achieve this, I am committed to work hard when it comes to studying and doing my projects. I will also participate in many university events such as symposium and academic lectures about tourism and travel to increase my understanding on the new approaches in tourism development. Working hard to achieve my academic goals should be easy for me because I am passionate on learning more about the tourism marketing and management. Also, I am positive that through perseverance and hard work, I will be able to finish my studies and eventually help my country improve its tourism sector. Most importantly, I rely on my faith to guide me in the right direction towards achieving my goals in life. My Evidence As attached, two evidences are presented to support my learning. These are the presentation of my SWOT Analysis (Appendix A) and my write-up about my cultural autobiography (Appendix B). Both these outputs are products of my self-reflection which enabled me to get a clear understanding of myself. Also, it allowed me to examine my life experiences and how it molded me to become the person that I am now. To write these reflections about myself was a challenging yet rewarding task. First, the personal SWOT analysis allowed me to examine my positive attributes as well as the negative characteristics that I have. It has also allowed me to explore where to use my personal qualities by outlining the opportunities and threats I anticipated in reaching for my objectives in life. I classified the experiences I had in events organizing as one of my strengths because it allowed me to showcase my management skills. Also, being calm, patient, and optimistic are the qualities I hold to successfully conquer the challenges in the academe. On the other hand, being self-critical and being a perfectionist are one of my weaknesses that sometimes contribute my completion of a given task. However, as much as possible I try to transform these negative characteristics into a positive one. For instance, I can use my being critical to improve my academic works and projects. I try to look at international education as an opportunity that will help me uplift Oman’s tourism industry. Lastly, my cultural autobiography enabled me to talk about the country where I come from. It is the place where my values and personal character was shaped. It is also the main reasons why I study this course on Tourism and Travel because I want the world to see the ancient and natural wonders of my country. The cultural autobiography is a testament on my passion to do significant things for Oman. Appendix A My SWOT Analysis Strengths Passionate about learning more about tourism Optimistic in accomplishing tasks Experiences in organizing events Calm and patient Can work under pressure Keen about learning Weaknesses Self – critical Careful and slow in judgment Perfectionist Home sickness Opportunities International education on Tourism and Travel provides good exposure and learning. Full support from home country to boost expertise in tourism Booming tourism industry in Oman Threats Competition in growing tourism markets from all over the world Lack of aggressiveness in Oman’s tourism campaign Appendix B My Cultural Autobiography I live in Oman, a sultanate state lying in the Southeast coast of Arabian Peninsula. Most of the time, people would only know Oman because of its khanjar knives but what they do not know is that the country is also blessed with rich culture, heritage, and artistry. Aside from that, most people think that Oman is only rich in oil reserves but what they do not know is that the country is also blessed by natural and ancient wonders. While growing up, I never failed to appreciate how beautiful my country is. It began when my father used to bring the family on numerous trips and let us explore the beauty of Oman’s countryside. My father, being the head of the family, would always stress the importance of loving our heritage and culture. I remembered travelling with him in the ancient cities of Bat where we explored the remnants of the ancient town and Sur where we saw the shipbuilding tradition and activities of the town. Through these trips, I came to admire my father’s effort to expose my siblings and I on the many things that make us proud being Omani. Indeed, I have looked up to my father as an exemplary person for success. Like myself, he also studied abroad (in the US) to get his Electrical Engineering degree and went back to Oman to become a CEO in an electric company. My father used his international experience and knowledge to help my country manage stable and efficient electrical supply. He did this while showing his children the love for the country and culture. Most importantly, he was able to inculcate in our minds the importance of adhering to Islamic faith in order to lead a good life. It is from him that I learned my academic purpose – that is, to promote the beauty of Oman to the rest of the world. References Alkhamyasi , S.A., 2012. Muscat Festival: The Accomodating Fun. Ministry of Information Sultanate of Oman. [online] (Last updated 22 Februay 20120 Available at: [Accessed 14 May 2012] Al-Shaibany, S., 2010. Cyclone Phet damages may cost $780 mln. Reuters [online] (Last updated 7:02 pm IST on 7 June 2010). Available at: [Accessed 14 May 2012] Javedanfar, M., 2005. Economic Analysis: Forecast of the Omani Economy for the Year 2007. Middle East analysis Review [online] (Last updated 20 July 2005) Available at: [Accessed 14 May 2012] University of Bedfordshire, 2012. BA Travel and Tourism Course Summary. [online] University of Bedfordshire. Available at: [Accessed 14 May 2012] Read More