PATA in Support of Tourism for Inclusive Growth
PATA CEO, Liz Ortiguera, shared a message to our valued PATA community on Oct 01, 2021. Her note has been reposted below:
Dear PATA Members and Industry Colleagues,
On Monday, the world celebrated World Tourism Day under the theme of ‘Tourism for Inclusive Growth,’ a topic that is aligned with the mission of the PATA in acting as a catalyst for the responsible development of travel and tourism to, from, and within the Asia Pacific region. At PATA we celebrated the day by producing a new video celebrating a selection of our destination members.
Our commitment to ‘Tourism for Inclusive Growth’ is highlighted by the Association’s activities in the weekend leading up to that day. On Sat Sept 25, we co-hosted the Virtual World Rural Tourism and Sustainable Development Conference 2021 in partnership with Huzhou City Government in China.
During this event, PATA mutually signed an agreement to pursue development of an Asia Pacific Rural Tourism Alliance. This agreement in principle is aimed at promoting the sustainable development of global rural tourism and support the cause of global poverty reduction. The overall focus of the event was to ensure a fairer distribution of the benefits from tourism to rural destination around the region, which includes the creation of jobs, the protection of natural resources, the development of infrastructure and the empowerment of local communities.
Rural tourism, community tourism and indigenous tourism (with their similarities and differences) are seeing heightened destination and consumer interest as an opportunity to match destination readiness with consumer needs. There is interest across the region and beyond in developing innovative and sustainable solutions to engage in more nature-based, culturally authentic, and less populated destinations.
On Sunday, I supported RMIT University in Vietnam to launch their Amazing Vietnam travel competition and, on Monday, participated in Indonesia Tourism's hybrid World Tourism Day event with the theme of Balance, Agriculture, Leisure and Inclusive (BALI) Growth.
Coming up next week, on Tuesday, we will be hosting the third instalment of Destination Recovery Insights Exchange for our Government Members, co-hosted with the World Bank. This initiative is #2 in PATA's 8-Point plan to support our members and the industry, by presenting and discussing COVID-19 recovery best practices and sharing learnings.
As always, PATA remains committed to supporting our members in their recovery efforts and we thank you for your continued support of the Association.