PATA Highlighting Asia Pacific Travel in Europe
PATA CEO, Liz Ortiguera (right of center) at WTM London
PATA CEO Liz Ortiguera shared a message with the PATA community on Nov 18, 2021, with updates about PATA’s recent and upcoming activities. The full message has been reposted below:
Dear PATA Members and Industry Colleagues,
The end of Oct and the week of Nov 1st and Nov 8th were exciting weeks with the first World Travel Market (WTM) event in two years occurring in London and the Travel Innovation Summit (TIS) occurring in Seville.
First, starting at the Dubai Expo, I had the opportunity to attend the Maldives investment Forum with Dr Abdullah Mausoom, one of our PATA Executive Board Members. The Maldives has been Asia-Pacific's first success story in recovering from the pandemic and welcoming its 1,000,000th visitor this year at the end of October. Their reopening strategies were shared with our government members during our first Destination Recovery Insights session held back in August.
Thailand Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai
Travelling on to World Travel Market, we hosted a series of PATA Events, including the PATA's 9th Aligned Advocacy Dinner kindly hosted by Turespana and Seville City Tourism Office, with long-time supporters BBC Storyworks and Travel Weekly Group. The dinner hosted more than a dozen Ministers and over 90+ travel leaders from around the globe. It was a great reunion of travel friends, new and old, in a spectacular venue with a stunning flamenco event. The opportunity to connect socially in-person, the historical London venue and the dramatic, authentic Spanish entertainment reminded us all of the heart and essence of travel.
PATA's 9th Aligned Advocacy Dinner
During my first public address, I announced PATA's support for a vaccine equity initiative to support the industry recovery. While governments across the region have been diligent with ensuring travel front liners get access to vaccines, there are still critical gaps to close with mid- to low-income economies still very supply limited in vaccines to ensure broad vaccine deployment is ensured. No one is safe until everyone is safe.
We then hosted PATA's first session on the Global Stage - a panel discussion on East Meets West: Restarting Travel and the Lessons Learned Along the Way. Details on the session can be found here. The session was moderated by Rajan Datar from BBC News, and my fellow panelists included Alan Elliott Merschen of Myriad Marketing; Dr Abdulla Mausoom, Minister of Tourism, Maldives; and Kimarli Fernando, Chairperson of Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority.
‘East Meets West: Restarting Travel and the Lessons Learned Along the Way’ session at WTM London.
L/R: Alan Elliott Merschen, Partner, International Insights, Myriad Marketing; Dr Abdulla Mausoom, Minister of Tourism, Maldives; Liz Ortiguera, CEO, PATA; Kimarli Fernando, Chairperson of Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority; Rajan Datar, Presenter, BBC's The Travel Show
And lastly during WTM week, we were also pleased to have a signing ceremony to welcome our most recent destination member, Saudi Tourism Board. Prior to London, I had the opportunity to attend the International Investment Forum event in Riyadh and meet with STA leadership and several other country representatives. I was duly impressed with the recent progressiveness of the country's leadership and look forward to supporting their travel and tourism initiatives. I was also really pleased to attend the launch of Thailand Tourism Authority's new Amazing New Chapters travel marketing campaign.
I've been regularly communicating the high focus of destinations across Asia-Pacific on the health and safety protocols required in the preparation for the reopening of travel in the region. In addition, the public and private sectors have been preparing enhanced product and service offerings leveraging the local market attributes and cultural practices - to deliver an enhanced offering to the post-pandemic traveller.
Moving on to Spain for the Tourism Innovation Summit hosted in Seville, we presented the Resilience and Recovery Plan for the Asia-Pacific Region - reviewing the 8-point plan in execution, which covers both immediate tactical needs, as well as strategic destination resilience needs.
Daniela Wagner, PATA's Regional Director – Europe, Middle East and Africa, at the Tourism Innovation Summit
Throughout these past 2 - 3 weeks and this tour of European conferences, we've heard a spate of new border openings and policy changes across Asia. I've regularly communicated in Europe the high focus of destinations across Asia-Pacific on the health and safety protocols in the preparation for the reopening of travel to Asia-Pacific. In addition, the region offers a wealth of new products and services aligned with post-pandemic travellers' interests.
On the topic of events in Europe, I'd like to draw attention to the 2021 UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) and Glasgow Declaration, of which PATA is a signatory. It urges the travel industry towards five pathways to reduce tourism emissions by 50% over the next decade, including: measure, decarbonise, regenerate, collaborate, and finance. The goal is to reach net zero emissions before 2050. We strongly encourage your organisation to learn more about this coordinated plan for tourism climate action and become a signatory too.
We look forward to continuing to support the region's recovery and renewed industry emergence.
Best regards,
Liz