Kelly Kong, Helen Liu and Jelana Wang, students of Institute for Tourism Studies (IFT), won the 'Audience's Choice' Award in the PATA Social Entrepreneurs' Challenge organised by Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA). They are currently enrolled in first and second year of IFT's bachelor degree programme in Tourism Business Management. The 2012 PATA Social Entrepreneur Challenge is a platform to showcase the new ideas of the young, dynamic and creative talents in the tourism and hospitality industry. It also serves the purpose of providing new socially responsible business plan for entrepreneurs. It challenged full-time undergraduate students from PATA member schools in tourism, hospitality or culinary arts to submit a video on a socially responsible tourism business idea on YouTube (maximum 5 minutes) fitting either of the following themes: changes in travelling patterns; changes in tourism and hospitality sectors; innovation in tourism and hospitality products; exploration of new tourism products; the influence of technology in the tourism industry; and tourism's extra disciplinary roles. The competition attracted more than 26 individual and group participants from various regions and countries of the Asia Pacific region. PATA announced the 3 finalists of the competition and one of them was the IFT Team with the topic of "The Influence of Technology in Tourism Industry". The three finalists were invited to present their ideas to a panel of judges at PATA Annual Conference in Kuala Lumpur, 21-22 April, 2012, after a rigorous competition, IFT Team performed outstandingly and won the "Audience's Choice" Award. The Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) is a membership association acting as a catalyst for the responsible development of the Asia Pacific travel and tourism industry. In partnership with PATA's private and public sector members, it enhances the sustainable growth, value and quality of travel and tourism to, from and within the region.
