New Year Message from the CEO
PATA CEO Liz Ortiguera shared a message with the PATA community on Jan 7, 2022, with updates about PATA’s commitment entering 2022. The full message has been reposted below:
Dear PATA Members and Industry Colleagues,
Wishing all of you a happy and healthy new year and warm greetings on your return from the holiday season.
Reflecting on the past two years, no one would have imagined in February 2020 that two years later we would still be combatting the pandemic just emerging then. Our industry has been hit harder than most and the need to stay resilient and strong remains an ongoing challenge. This has served to really galvanise the critical role that PATA should and will continue to play towards recovery.
Supporting Our Members and the Industry through 2021
In 2021, we kicked into crisis response mode and launched PATA's 8 Point Plan to support our members and the industry at large. The needs are great and varied - so we have taken a multi-level approach to delivering support.
These initiatives included:
The Crisis Resource Center in partnership with GIZ,
The Destination Recovery Insights Series for our government members done in partnership with World Bank,
PATA's Innovation Hub and Innovation Workshop Series,
Ramped up Insights and Trends Sessions and Forecasts,
A Vaccine Equity Initiative in support of the COVAX efforts of WHO and UNICEF,
Global Community Initiatives including Member Networking Forums, Chapter Outreach Sessions plus new partnerships and member engagements,
New collaborations with global organisations, and lastly
The Launch of the Tourism Destination Resilience Programme, again with GIZ
In 2021, we were pleased to welcome into the association new members/partners including Trip.com, Banyan Tree, Expedia, EHL and Dalberg, to name a few. In addition, we hosted our first Wellness and Luxury Conference and Mart, two hybrid Rural Tourism Conferences, the Destination Marketing Forum and 63 webinars in addition to virtual versions of our traditional Annual Summit and Travel Mart.
And finally, prior towards the end of December, we launched our support for the COVAX initiative and the WHO Foundation in partnership with Virgin Atlantic and Collinson to kick off the Global Travel Sector Vaccine Coalition. We encourage travel industry players to join us - more information can be found in the news segment below. A global solution is required in order for us all to sustainably recover.
Our continued commitment as PATA enters into the New Year:
We will continue to focus on Actions and not just words. Advocacy, MOUs and proclamations simply dissipate into the air and have zero meaning without execution and implementation. One example of actions in progress is our Informal Workers Support Project - a pilot programme done to examine the needs and extend training plus support to the most impacted people within the travel sector. With this tangible project in hand, we'll be sharing the learnings and seeking to expand it further across the region.
We will focus on new collaborations and partnerships. Now is the time for collaboration not competition and partnerships not politics. The PATA network has incredible depth and breadth. We will continue to find opportunities to better connect our members and the broader industry to support business growth and innovation. In addition to the prior mentioned partnerships, I spent much of the last two months on a global tour meeting with industry colleagues and forging new alliances. I look forward to progressing on these moving into the new year.
We will find/create the silver lining to this challenge and shape a positive future for travel. To support the resilience and capacity building opportunities for our destination members, we are kicking off 2022 with the launch of our Tourism Destination Resilience programme and the Net Zero initiative in support of our PATA member Greenview. The pandemic has heightened some silver linings already - interest in slower, more mindful, and multi-purpose travel journeys, a heightened interest in wellness and nature-based travel, and an increase in conscious consumerism, to name a few. At PATA, we will continue to evolve our programmes to deliver insights, best practices and learnings on emerging opportunities.
And finally, in an update of good news to start the New Year, we are pleased to officially welcome Saudi Tourism Bureau / Saudi Arabia as a new destination member. This destination is in a rapid state of evolution with exciting travel experiences now opening. And next week we will be announcing the long-awaited return and welcoming back of an important Southeast Asian destination member. More on this to come :)…
I am confident that together we will overcome the challenges that this pandemic has brought and emerge stronger and better together.
