PATA CEO on the Road Again
L/R: Liz Ortiguera, PATA CEO, with Dr Abdulla Mausoom, Maldives’ Minister of Tourism, at the Maldives Investment Forum in Dubai
PATA CEO, Liz Ortiguera, shared a message to our network of valued PATA International Members on Oct 28, 2021 with updates about PATA’s recent and upcoming activities. The full message has been reposted below:
Dear PATA Members and Industry Colleagues,
We were pleased in the past two weeks to have hosted/co-hosted two important conferences.
First, from Oct 15-17, we co-hosted the 15th UNWTO/PATA Forum on Tourism Trends and Outlook Forum with a focus on ‘Tourism and Rural Development.’ This colloquium garnered an incredible 1.3 million views on the broadcast days alone. Rural tourism is experiencing a rising interest across Asia-Pacific, driven by consumer interests and government strategies to ring-fence safe destinations as ready for travel. China, in particular, is experiencing a rural tourism boom with a growth of 300% (year-on-year, as of March) as domestic travellers, unable to venture internationally, have sought out nature-based, authentic experiences in their home destination. Appreciation for this type of travel is a silver-lining to the pandemic-driven industry impacts, but there can be negative implications if the rapid rural development is not done sustainably and responsibly. PATA works to advance models that support positive development. You can watch our conference recording, see photos, and download presentations here >
Russel Wong’s presentation at the 15th UNWTO/PATA Forum on Tourism Trends and Outlook
As a lighter, special add-on to the conference, I invited famed photographer Russel Wong to share his stories behind some beautiful art photographs taken in the Yangshuo countryside nearby to Guilin, China. His travel and photography stories are always engaging and entertaining. This segment will be re-broadcast by PATA soon.
The second important conference was PATA's first Wellness and Luxury Travel Conference and Mart, held Oct 20-22 in partnership with the Tourism Authority of Thailand. Susie Ellis of Global Wellness Institute made the striking observation that all travel is now essentially wellness travel. Advocacy and support for a wholistic form of wellness travel - one that considers personal wellness as integrated with the destination's community and the environment - is a form of intelligent travel that PATA will continue to advocate. If this seems impossible, consider that there are properties that source great locally-grown produce for their dining venues or locally-made, natural product-based toiletries as amenities.
Keynote presentation by Susie Ellis, Chairman & CEO, Global Wellness Institute
Lastly, I'm happy to advise that I'm on my first overseas journey in 21 months. En-route to World Travel Mart in London, I stopped over in Ras Al Khaimah and Dubai to do a site visit to our planned venues for PATA's first physical event since COVID-19, PATA Annual Summit 2022, scheduled for Mar 21 - 24, 2022.
Please do save the date - it will be a great opportunity to reconnect and meet travel leadership colleagues, enjoy the beauty of the Ras Al Khaimah and its surrounding desert landscape plus you can partake in the Dubai Expo in its final two weeks. I promise to make this an enriching, engaging and much-needed experiential travel event as we emerge from this pandemic stronger and better as an industry.
Best regards,
Liz