Asia Pacific Destinations- Antidote to Pandemic Stress
PATA CEO Liz Ortiguera shared a message with the PATA community on July 29, 2022, with updates about the strengths of Asia Pacific destinations in the reopening and PATA’s recent activities. The full message has been reposted below:
Dear PATA Members and Industry Colleagues,
Greetings from Singapore! I'm writing this after a much-needed week-long holiday break. No doubt something that many of you are doing this month or are about to depart for. This was probably the first break in four years that wasn't driven by an overdue family reunion, and my first experience doing a pure wellness retreat (pushed at the advice of my closest friends and ever-wise assistant).
The end to end journey and hospitality experience was nothing but restful and wellness-centric in all aspects. The resort (to remain unnamed) had a raft of great elements - a great menu that served clean food celebrating local ingredients and heritage-based cooking, a broad range of wellness advisors/practitioners (many of whom were locals/nationals) with expertise spanning the full range of Western and Eastern wellness practices (Qigong, Pilates, acupuncture and sound healing among the many options), and the most restful (while flexible) digital detox policy. Each dining table had a plaque politely asking guests to respect the owners’ wishes to host technology-free meals. The property felt immersed in nature with the flora, fauna, and fountains that felt like a natural rainforest. I spoke with Type A execs (from the UK and Oz) who had happily succumbed to the digital detox policy and were thoroughly enjoying the permission of the wellness bubble that the resort had created as an escape.
Reading the news, I saw the stress of 1000 pieces of lost luggage, the chaos created by cancelled flights in London and Paris, the crowded airports, the cases surging in many urban centres, and the fires surrounding the train travellers in Spain. My resort home for the week had low occupancy (part due to low season, part pandemic recovery), an amazing product/experience - and best of all, warm, caring hospitality staff at every turn. This is the hallmark of many Asian countries.
All I could think was how Asia can really deliver the perfect antidote for the pandemic-driven stresses and concerns we've all had.
As a quick rundown of some of the work PATA has delivered lately:
Launch of the Online Course: Targeting Zero Plastics in Tourism Businesses- with UNESCO, PATA & Expedia Group
Hosting of our first virtual Member Networking Event for North America and Europe in July
Hosting of the PATA-World Bank Government-only Recovery Insights session on featuring Dalberg on "Boosting the Tourism Sector and Biodiversity Protection” and STB on “Enabling a Safe and Seamless Travel Journey”. Govt members can email us here to request the recording.
Vice-Chairman Ben Liao's Hosting of two Board member Office Hour sessions
Friendly reminder of our upcoming events:
Aug 3-4: PATA's Destination Marketing Forum in Songkhla, Thailand. Our first fully physical event since the pandemic! We're pleased to have 20 nations represented and 10 NTOs joining.
October 25: Board meeting - Ras Al Khaimah (45 mins from Dubai)
October 26 - 27: PATA's Annual Summit - Ras Al Khaimah (45 mins from Dubai). Premium value and privileged pricing for members at USD$199, early bird rate ending soon!
And lastly, I was pleased to announce Audra Morrice as our inaugural Ambassador for Sustainable, Gastronomy Tourism.
About Audra Morrice:
Audra Morrice is a chef, author and television presenter. As an University graduate in Economics and Japanese, Audra left her successful career in telecommunications to follow her passion in food. A finalist in MasterChef Australia 2012, judge on MasterChef Asia 2015, currently in third season as MasterChef Singapore judge.
An author of two cookbooks, she has her own cooking series, Tasty Conversations and runs a catering business and cooking programs for private and corporate clients.
Audra consulted for Laguna Phuket to launch the first Food & Music Festival, Fullerton Hotel Sydney, Australian Department of Foreign Affairs, CSIRO, Accor to name a few.
Read more about the appointment >
Research shows that the #1 driver for tourism interest in Asia-Pacific is gastronomy. There are cuisines across our region that could be better celebrated and local ingredients that can be sourced. We'd like to applaud and further encourage more pride in local cuisines as a hallmark of the Asian travel experience. Great food, exotic cultures and, best of all, warm hospitality. Asia is open and we welcome travellers from all regions to come visit.
