Asia
Successful PATA China Responsible Tourism Forum Goes Annual
December 21, 2011
A sold-out inaugural forum lays the foundations for future growth of responsible tourism in China. Next year’s forum will launch the PATA China Responsible Tourism Award Beijing - A series of case studies, presented at the first China Responsible Tourism Forum (CRTF) in Beijing on December 16, confirmed that responsible tourism is firmly on the agenda among small and medium-sized enterprises in Chin “The highly innovative best practice case studies presented show that China is at the forefront of grass-roots responsible tourism development,” said Martin Craigs, CEO of the Bangkok-based Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA). The sold out forum, organised by PATA in co-operation with the Organising Committee of the China International Heritage Towns Exposition, was moderated by CCTV Business News anchor Deidre Morris Wang. Coinciding with the launch of the new PATA China Board, the PATA China Beijing Chapter and first PATA Student Chapter in China at Beijing International Studies... Read More →
By the Numbers
PATA: Asia/Pacific Visitor Arrivals Up 6% in September
December 11, 2011
Bangkok: The Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) today released its preliminary results of international visitor arrivals into Asia/Pacific destinations1 for September 2011. Figures at hand show a collective year-on-year increase of 5.7%, a decline of half a percentage point from the previous month’s growth rate. For the first nine months of 2011, all Asia Pacific sub-regions maintained a positive performance, although at different levels of growth as follows: - South Asia + 14% - Southeast Asia + 12% - Northeast Asia + 4% - The Pacific + 1% South Asia led the pack for the month of September with an 11% increase. It added nearly 60,000 more international visitors to the sub-region over the corresponding period last year. For the four smaller volume destinations reporting source market information (i.e. Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka) arrivals from Asia increased significantly in terms of both volume and growth rate. The number of arrivals from Asian origin markets – supported... Read More →
Trade Events
PATA Launches China Responsible Tourism Forum
November 22, 2011
Bangkok: The Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA), in collaboration with China International Heritage Towns Exposition, have organised the China Responsible Tourism Forum (CRTF). The forum will take place in Beijing on December 16, 2011. The event will coincide with the China Heritage Towns Exposition that will be held at the same venue December 16-18. The forum aims to help, protect and preserve the heritage and culture of ancient villages in China, while responsibly developing these villages to boost tourism. The forum will discuss the threat that mass tourism poses to these communities and their residents. More importantly, the forum will highlight the value tourism may bring if executed thoughtfully. Consumer travel trends indicate that tourists want to travel responsibly and connect with people and culture in an authentic way. Esteemed international and local Chinese experts will talk about ways of implementing responsible tourism development. They will exchange ideas in developing... Read More →
Member Press ReleasesPATA and Dragon Trail Sign Preferred Partner Agreement
November 9, 2011
Bangkok – The Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) has signed a PATA Preferred Partner agreement with Dragon Trail, an award-winning digital marketing and travel technology company in Beijing. The agreement aims to strengthen cooperation in the development of digital marketing, social media, and to support PATA’s activities in China. The partnership agreement was signed by Mr Stu Lloyd, Senior Director, PATA and Mr George Cao, CEO and Co-Founder of Dragon Trail during the 5th UNWTO/PATA Forum on Tourism Trends and Outlook in Guilin, China, October 26-28. Mr Lloyd said: “The understanding of China’s social media, online marketing and mobile is critical to the success of any travel industry brand. Dragon Trail’s focus on China, travel and digital will help PATA communicate with existing and prospective members to help build their business. The partnership is important, especially with the launch of the new PATA China Chapter later this year,” he said. Mr Jens Thraenhart, President... Read More →
Member Press Releases
Pepy Ride: Please join The Power of 10!
October 14, 2011
The Power of 10 is here! If our big announcement hasn’t reached all of you, we hope you could sense it anyway! The Power of 10 has arrived on 10.10 and we’re now a few days in! If you haven’t joined yet, please do! We’ve got another fabulous video produced for us by Kris Wozencroft and we hope you’ll watch it, donate $10 if you can or more if you like, and tell 10 friends! There are so many other ways to spread the word about PEPY’s annual campaign, so after you watch this video, check out the site and learn how to be involved! This year, we’re asking people to share their dreams with us. We believe that voicing and sharing our dreams makes them one step closer to reality. Share your dreams with us and subscribe to our message board so that you can receive the dreams of others as inspiration throughout the year! Visit our website www.jointhepowerof10.org, watch the video, make a donation of $10 or more if you can, explore the dreamboard, share... Read More →
New & Different
10,000 Free Round-Trip Tickets to Japan
October 11, 2011
Yahoo! News has reported on a remarkable campaign being proposed by the Japan Tourism Agency – the giveaway of 10,000 free roundtrip airfare tickets globally to elicit social media buzz in order to help jump start the ailing local tourism industry after the catastrophic earthquake, tsunami and Fukushima Dai-ichi Powr plant disaster this spring. If the government grants the funding, the plan would be put in action next April, roughly a year after the tragic events which have seen Japan’s inbound tourism slashed in half: The tourism agency says it plans to open a website to solicit applicants interested in the free tickets. Would- be visitors will have to detail in writing their travel plans in Japan, and explain what they hope to get out of the trip. Successful applicants would pay for their own accommodation and meals. They would also be required to write a review their travel experiences, and post it online. “We are hoping to get highly influential blogger-types, and others... Read More →
Spotlight: Sustainability
Indian Court Urged Not to Ban Tiger Tourism by Tour Operators, Travelers
October 11, 2011
Photo: tofttigers.org According to a recent article published in The Telegraph, the Supreme Court of India is considering banning tiger tourism and safaris in “core” tiger habitats, out of the concern that such trips are adversely affecting the approximately 1,400 wild tigers left in the country. They are being urged by a group of travelers, tour operators and local travel industry stakeholders to reject the ban. “This is a critical ruling for the future of tiger tourism in India,” said Julian Matthews, chairman of TOFT [Tour Operators for Tigers]. “Banning tourism from the core areas of tiger reserves is an irresponsible and unnecessary move that will have many negative consequences. “Tourism in tiger reserves provides an income to thousands of people, many of them local to the area of the reserves. Closing tourism in these core areas will cause the number of people visiting these reserves to drop drastically.” TOFT and critics of the ban claim that it would not just... Read More →
Member Press Releases
Managing Director of Shikhar Travels Receives Lifetime Achievment Award from ATOAI
October 4, 2011
Capt. Swadesh Kumar, Managing Director, Shikhar Travels, received Life Time Achievement Award from Adventure Tour Operators Association at their 9th Annual Convention held in Srinagar, India. He has been honoured for his outstanding contributions in the field of adventure tourism in the country. He received the award from Hon’ble Chief Minister of Jammu & Kashmir Jenab Omar Abdullah during the inauguration ceremony of the Convention on 12th September, 2011. Capt. Kumar is the Founder President of ATOAI, which plays a significant role in promoting adventure tourism in India, and has been recognized by the Ministry of Tourism as the prime body of the Indian adventure tourism industry. Capt. Kumar’s interest in Trekking and Climbing Expeditions started in 1969 when he joined the Delhi Mountaineering Association (DMA) as a member. From the very beginning of his career(1974 – 79), he has promoted and pioneered many routes and trails. One striking example of his breaking new... Read More →
Spotlight: Destinations
License to Kill: Should China Grant Foreign Tourists Visas to Hunt Limited Numbers of Protected Species?
September 30, 2011
A debate around granting international tourists special licenses to hunt protected animals as part of ‘adventure travel’ tours is taking place in China. A website dedicated to environmental issues, chinadialogue, recently reported that a special committee has granted permission to a group of American citizens to hunt the Bharal and Tibetan gazelle in the Dulan International Hunting Ground in China’s far western region of Qinghai - animals otherwise protected from hunting under Chinese law: While trophy-hunting tourism has largely been out of the news for the past five years – since public anger forced a halt to the first and only auction of international hunting quotas – the debate has been quietly raging on: does allowing select hunting ultimately benefit wildlife, or lead to disaster? …Wang Wei is president of China’s largest international hunting firm, Beijing-based Zheng’an Travel Agency, also known as China Adventure Travel. Speaking at an event organised... Read More →
Member Press Releases
Travel Operators for Tigers Introduces 14 New PUG Certified Lodges
September 20, 2011
The well-known Indian wildlife tourism campaign, Travel Operators for Tigers, (TOFT), have announced that an additional fourteen wildlife lodges in 11 of India’s premier Tiger reserves have gained PUG environmental certification this season, growing its list of lodges to a total now of 39 accommodation holders. Five of these are in Tiger reserves that TOFT has not focused on before, including Satpura in Madhya Pradesh, Kaziranga in Assam, Tadoba in Maharashtra and Nagarhole and Bandipur in Karnataka State. With much heated debate happening over the future of nature tourism in India, and its ability to be used as a conservation tool, the TOFT PUG audit serves to illustrate the lengths to which lodge owners are prepared to go to, to ensure a future for both themselves and for India’s iconic species and its forest habitat. TOFT is aimed at those within the nature travel industry and all visitors to India’s wildlife parks to advocate, endorse and support more responsible use of wilderness... Read More →
