The PATA (Pacific Asia Travel Association) 60th Anniversary and Conference opened this morning (April 11) in Beijing, with Vice Premier of the State Council Wang Qishan and Chairman of China National Tourism Administration Shao Qiwei addressing delegates at the opening ceremony. A delegation of Macau Government Tourist Office (MGTO) officials and travel trade members from Macau, led by Director of MGTO João Manuel Costa Antunes, will take part in the event, which will be held from April 9 to 12. This year the event marks both the 60th Anniversary of PATA and the return of the PATA Annual Conference and is expected to attract 1,000 PATA members and tourism professionals from across all sectors of the industry. Under the theme “Building Tourism: Past. Present. Progressive', the conference will address a variety of timely and popular issues ranging from space tourism to the more down-to-earth challenges of changing demographics, distribution, technology, aviation and responsible tourism that shape tomorrow's tourism. Following the Opening Ceremony, PATA Chairman Hiran Cooray, CNTA Vice Chairman Du Jiang and MGTO Director João Manuel Costa Antunes, among other guests, participated in the PATA Gold Awards Lunch and Award Presentation sponsored by MGTO. A total of 26 PATA Grand and Gold Awards were presented on the occasion to acknowledge the outstanding achievements of stakeholders in various tourism industry aspects. Speaking at the lunch, MGTO Director João Manuel Costa Antunes congratulated the winners who have shown excellence and dedication in each of their particular fields. “Macau is proud to contribute our part to global tourism development as an active PATA member as well as a long-time sponsor of the PATA Gold Awards. The Macau SAR government is also committing efforts in building Macau into a global center of tourism and leisure as supported and consolidated in the recently declared Twelfth Five-year Plan of Mainland China. While diversifying its tourism industry, Macau will continue to work closely with PATA and other industry stakeholders in propelling the development of the travel and tourism industry in the Asia Pacific region,” he added. Prior to the opening of the PATA 60th Anniversary and Conference, the PATA Executive Board and PATA Board Meeting was held from April 9 to10. MGTO Director João Manuel Costa Antunes, who is also PATA Vice Chairman, participated in the meeting which included Board Meeting sessions and meetings of different committees. PATA Founded in 1951, PATA is a non-profit membership association dedicated to building responsible development of the Asia Pacific travel and tourism industry. MGTO has been a member of PATA for over half a century since 1958. PATA has currently more than 900 full members and over 7,000 chapter members around the globe. PATA's membership boasts more than 80 government, state and city tourism bodies, over 40 airlines and cruise lines, and hundreds of travel industry companies.
