The Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) will organise the newly re-branded PATA New Tourism Frontiers Forum 2015 (formerly the PATA Adventure Travel and Responsible Tourism Conference 2015) from November 25-27, 2015 at the Oriental Hotel Legazpi in Albay, Philippines.
The three-day event, under the theme “Ecotourism – Transcending Climate Change”, is being hosted by the Provincial Government of Albay in partnership with The Department of Tourism, Philippines. The choice of venue is due to the outstanding achievements of the Province of Albay in Climate Change adaptation and Disaster Risk Reduction Management. Albay has also been recently declared as the most vibrant and the fastest growing tourist destination in the Philippines. The event stems from the need to help secondary and tertiary areas grow and develop into widely recognised, bucket-listed tourism destinations.
Mario Hardy, CEO, PATA said, “The dispersion of tourism is the Association’s main advocacy issue this year, and one that I hold very dear to my heart. Last month we announced the PATA CEO Challenge 2015 as one avenue to address this issue, and now this event will allow destinations the opportunity to learn from various travel and tourism stakeholders how best to market and manage these new and emerging destinations, which are ready to be discovered.”
The Forum brings together tourism professionals to share their insights and experiences in marketing and managing tourism growth to lesser-known destinations, thus ensuring the sustainable growth and development of travel and tourism in the area. Local communities will economically benefit through the dispersion of tourists to these new frontiers. In addition, this conference aims to explore new tourism opportunities based on sound eco-systems and climate change adaptations- of which Albay has become a world-class role model. Speakers will examine ecotourism and adventure travel, marketing new destinations, and connecting adventure hubs.
Joey Sarte Salceda, governor, Province of Albay said, “For its tourism marketing, Albay has partnered with the Department of Tourism in targeting the hosting of treaty conferences like UNWTO to gain more bang for our bucks and we consider PATA in the same category. We are happy to present our ecotourism at the center of our sustainable development strategy. Its iconic feature, Mayon Volcano has just recently been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.”