PATA Annual Meeting 2009 opens mid April in Macau More than 100 guests and speakers to participate in the business forum

The 58th Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) Annual Meeting will take place in Macau between 18 and 21 April at the MGM Grand. The summit of the meeting will be a Business Forum under the topic “Discovering Opportunities in Tough Times” expected to be attended by more than 100 speakers and guests. Macau Government Tourist Office (MGTO) director, João Manuel Costa Antunes, and PATA president, Gregory Duffell, will participate in the PATA Annual Meeting and the Business Forum. Over twenty speakers were invited to address the Business Forum, due to take place on the 20th. Tourism industry personalities and academics of the Asia Pacific region are among the participants expected for the forum. Richard Chang, executive vice president and general manager of Visa International China will deliver an in-depth look at likely trends in consumer spending based on recent research by Visa. Other topics include: PATA Asia Pacific Tourism Forecast 2009-2011, Tapping Greater China Opportunities, eCommerce Strategies in Tough Times and Succeeding in Tough Times. PATA president Gregory Duffell, will present a summary of the Annual Meeting on the 21st. The organizers will invite international, Mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau media to report on the event. A media center will be set up at MGM Grand Macau. PATA, the most influential tourism association in the Asia Pacific, has nearly 100 government, state and city tourism body members, 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. In preparation for the Annual Meeting, PATA Macau Chapter held a meeting today (April 1st). The 2009 PATA Gold Awards Luncheon and the PATA Travel Mart 2009, due to take place in Hangzhou, among other topics, where also being discussed during the meeting.