Senna Fernandes with the newly-elected PATA management
Director of Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO), Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes, has just participated in the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) Annual Summit 2017 in Sri Lanka. Under the theme “Disruption. Innovation. Transformation: The Future of Tourism”, the four-day Summit features a series of panel discussions, the Ministerial Debate, the PATA Annual General Meeting and the PATA Youth Symposium among other meetings and activities in the programme this year.
Hosted by the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau, the PATA Annual Summit 2017 was held in Negombo, Sri Lanka from 18th to 21st May. MGTO Director Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes attended the Summit in Negombo. Other attendees from Macao include President of the Institute for Tourism Studies (IFT), Fanny Vong, Dean of the Faculty of Hospitality and Tourism Management at Macau University of Science and Technology (MUST), Philip Xie, Head of Communication and External Relations Department of MGTO, Kathy Iong, as well as two MUST students who also participated in the PATA Youth Symposium for an exchange experience that widened their international perspectives.
An opening ceremony was held on 19th May to kick-start the PATA Annual Summit 2017. Secretary-General of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), Taleb Rifai, Minister of Tourism of Sri Lanka, John Amaratunga, Chairman of the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau, Paddy Withana, Chairman of PATA, Andrew Jones, officiated the opening and addressed the delegates.
The Summit gathered innovative speakers and leaders from the travel industry to exchange and share forward-thinking perspectives so as to inspire tourism to march ahead. They discussed new ideas regarding market-transforming innovations, destination growth management, the sharing economy and its influence, comparison between traditional and digital marketing strategies, consumption patterns of future travelers and more.
As one of the members of the PATA Executive Board, Director Senna Fernandes attended a series of meetings and activities in the Summit including a one-day conference, the UNWTO/PATA Ministerial Debate, the PATA Executive Board Meeting, the PATA Board Meeting and the PATA Annual General Meeting. In addition, both the new Chairman and Vice Chairman of PATA were elected today (21st May). Sarah Mathews became the newly-elected PATA Chairman and Chris Bottrill became the new PATA Vice Chairman.
As one of PATA’s annual major events, the PATA Annual Summit attracted over 363 delegates representing a total of 191 entities, coming from 39 countries and regions across Asia Pacific this year.
PATA’s another major event, the PATA Travel Mart 2017, will come into the spotlight in Macao from 13th to 15th September. Founded in 1951, PATA is a non-profit membership association dedicated to fostering responsible development of the Asia-Pacific travel and tourism industry and providing insightful research findings and creative events to its current members which include 95 government tourism bodies, 29 international airlines, cruise lines and airport operators, 63 educational institutions and more than 100 tourism businesses across the Asia Pacific region and beyond.
