PATA Annual Meeting 2009 opens in Macau

Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) Annual Meeting 2009 opened today at the MGM Grand Macau. Over the weekend internal meetings of the association will take place, participated by PATA 2008/2009 Chairman Janice Antonson, PATA 2009/2010 chairman Phornsiri Manoharn, PATA president and chief executive officer Gregory Duffell and Macau Government Tourist Office (MGTO) director João Manuel Costa Antunes, among more than 100 members. The program for the first two days includes meetings of the Human Resource Advisory Committee, Membership Advisory Committee, Communications Advisory Committee, Foundation Board of Trustees, Honours Committee, Events Advisory Committee, Strategic Intelligence Advisory Committee, Sustainable Tourism Advisory Committee. The Board of Directors and the Life Members Forum will also meet. On welcoming the PATA Annual Meeting, Costa Antunes said that “the tourism development of Macau has been unprecedented in the past few years, but when the global financial crisis hits, Macau is no exception and we also feel the pinch in our economy, especially the tourism industry. Like many countries and regions who have adopted stimulus measures to shore up the tourism industry downturn, the Macau SAR Government is also putting every effort to launch soon a relief scheme to support the tourism industry of Macau.” “I also read that the PATA Tourism Forecasts 2009-2011 suggest growth in international arrivals for many destinations across the region – despite the global economic downturn. There are opportunities out there and we need to be proactive and innovative in discovering new opportunities instead of just reacting passively in a crisis mode”, he added. On Monday will be held a Business Forum under the topic “Discovering Opportunities in Tough Times” – the summit of the PATA Annual Meeting. Close to 200 participants, among them speakers, guests and media are expected. PATA invited around 20 speakers, among tourism industry personalities and academics to discuss problems and trends of Asia Pacific tourism industry development. The key guest speakers are General Manager of Visa China Sheng Li and Google Inc. vice president of sales for Greater China region John Liu. The organizers invited international, Mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau media to report on the event, and a media center will be set up at the MGM Grand Macau. On Tuesday, the last day of the PATA Annual Meeting, the PATA Chapters Meeting will take place, followed by a summary of the meeting presented by the president of the association. PATA is the most influential tourism association in the Asia Pacific. MGTO joined PATA in 1966. PATA’s membership includes nearly 100 government, state and city tourism bodies, more than 55 airlines and cruise lines, and hundreds of travel industry companies. In addition, thousands of travel professionals belong to a global network of PATA chapters. For more information about PATA, please go to: www.pata.org This press release is available at: www.macautourism.gov.mo