Discover how travellers can actively reduce single-use plastics and protect destinations. From simple habits such as carrying reusable bottles to supporting plastic-free businesses and using helpful apps, this blog offers practical tips and a call to action for responsible, plastic-free tourism.

Practical solutions for tourism businesses to reduce single-use plastics (SUPs). This blog highlights sector-specific strategies, real-world tools, and global frameworks, empowering tourism operators, hotels, and airlines to turn commitment into action.

This second blog in our plastics and tourism series examines how the tourism industry contributes to plastic pollution in the Asia Pacific and the urgent need for change. From waste-challenged island destinations to seasonal surges in plastic use, we unpack the environmental and economic costs – and spotlight the government and industry-led actions paving the way toward plastic-free tourism.

Plastic pollution is a growing climate threat — and tourism plays a role. In the first article of our four-part series, we explore the global link between plastics and climate change, highlight key international responses, and explain how tourism can drive solutions through the Global Tourism Plastics Initiative.

From AI-powered content creation to mastering Online Travel Agencies, PATA’s latest training programmes equipped over 140 participants in Sarawak with practical digital skills. This blog highlights three hands-on workshops held in Kuching and Miri in April – each designed to meet different needs within the local tourism sector.

By 2027, two key factors will shape Asia Pacific tourism: the rise of wellness tourism, with travellers favouring health-focused and sustainable experiences, and unpredictable global geopolitics, including trade policies and visa regulations. Read more about these factors in our blog!

Asian elephants captivate travellers, but their charm conceals stories of exploitation. Learn how to engage with these majestic giants responsibly, promoting their welfare and supporting ethical tourism practices.

PATA and the Sarawak Tourism Board implemented an innovative programme for tourism SMEs: a hands-on workshop focusing entirely on artificial intelligence (AI). The programme was held in Kuching, Malaysia, from October 29 to November 1, and was attended by 63 participants. Learn more about the training in this blog.

Brought together experts from SPARK Philippines, the Internet Society Foundation, and the Global Himalayan Expedition, the blog discussed strategies for unlocking economic opportunities through digital skilling and capacity-building in the Asia Pacific.

Since 2020, PATA has been actively involved in the Tourlink project, aiming to move Thai tourism towards sustainability through a business-led supply chain approach. PATA's primary role in the project focused on a series of initiatives to reduce food and plastic waste in tourism businesses. Now that the TourLink project has concluded, it has achieved remarkable success in each initiative, thanks to the efforts of PATA and all project partners. Read more in the blog.

This article by the Centre for Responsible Tourism Singapore examines how decarbonisation in the Southeast Asian tourism industry can lead to greater women empowerment and more regenerative types of tourism in the region.

How is climate change reshaping the reputation of travel and tourism? What can destinations do to combat negative reputations? Dive deep into the impact of climate change on destination reputations across the Asia Pacific region and learn about prime examples of sustainable initiatives driving positive changes.

In 2021, the Centre for Responsible Tourism Singapore launched its podcast on sustainable tourism, to help bring awareness to many contemporary issues in tourism, including community-based tourism and ethics, responsible wildlife tourism, climate adaptation, regenerative travel and many others.

This year, PATA has again implemented various programmes and training created to support the Asia Pacific tourism industry towards a more resilient and sustainable future. The Informal Workers Programme in Indonesia, the Finance and Digital Skills capacity building workshops for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and the Waste-Free Champion Awards were successfully completed in 2023. Read this blog to know more about these initiatives.

Spanning over three months, PATA and Visa’s Finance and Digital Skills Workshops, aiming to increase the resilience and adaptive capacity of tourism small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), has been successfully brought to an end in September 2023, empowering a total of 120 tourism businesses in Vietnam, Indonesia, Cambodia and the Philippines with greater knowledge and skills on financial management and business digitalisation.