Kathy Iong (second from rigth) with PATA CEO Mario Hardy (first from left) and new PATA Chairman Kevin Murphy
Macau Government Tourist Office (MGTO) attended today the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) Board Meeting held in Leshan, Sichuan province, in China. During the last few days, MGTO also joined the PATA Annual Summit, the Annual General Meeting and other key meetings of the association. Head of MGTO Communication and External Relations Department, Kathy Iong, is in Leshan for the event, where she represented MGTO at the PATA Board Meeting. MGTO is one of the PATA board members for the years 2014-2016, therefore has a seat at the Board Meeting. MGTO also attended today the PATA Annual General Meeting, following which a new PATA chairman and vice-chairman were announced, Kevin Murphy and Andrew Jones, respectively. Hosted by PATA, co-hosted by Leshan Municipal People’s Government, and supported by Sichuan Tourism Administration and Sichuan Provincial Foreign Affairs Office, the four day-long PATA event also included the PATA Annual Summit 2015 one-day conference, held on Friday. This year under the theme “New Dimensions of Heritage and Culture Tourism”, the conference featured opening remarks from China National Tourism Administration Vice Chairman Li Shihong and officials from Sichuan, as well as presentations from domestic and international speakers on such topics as Preserving Heritage Sites, Social Media in China and The Conscious Traveller. Other highlights of the program were the PATA Executive Board Meeting, the Youth Symposium, Committee meetings, the PATA Chapter Colloquium, among others. PATA has been a valuable platform for Macau to promote its tourism image and connect the local travel trade stakeholders to the world. Founded in 1951, PATA is a non-profit membership association dedicated to building responsible development of the Asia-Pacific travel and tourism industry. Macau has been a member of PATA since 1958. Among PATA members are 87 government, state and city tourism bodies, 31 airlines, airports and cruise lines, 61 educational institutions and hundreds of travel industry companies. In addition, there are 43 PATA Chapters and 13 PATA Student Chapters worldwide, including the PATA Macau Chapter and the PATA Macau Student Chapter.
