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PATA Elects New Executive Board Members

Maldives

PUBLISHED June 03, 2018

The Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) has announced the election of Dr Chris Bottrill, Director, International and Dean of the Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts at Capilano University in North Vancouver, Canada as Chairman of the Associations Executive Board. He replaces Ms Sarah Mathews, Head of Destination Marketing APAC TripAdvisor, Hong Kong SAR, who was elected Chairman in May 2017 and remains a member of the Executive Board as Immediate Past Chairperson.

"I am deeply honoured to be elected to the role of Chair of PATA and to work with a team of highly talented and accomplished Executive Board members from throughout the Asia Pacific region. We have just completed our annual summit in the beautiful town of Gangneung in the Republic of Korea and were reminded by H.E. Mr Ban Ki-moon, Dr Taleb Rifai, and others just how important tourism could be for fostering peace and prosperity on our planet. We were also reminded of the responsibility we have to tread carefully on the environment, maintain cultural diversity, and embrace the rights of all individuals, which is not a simple task," said Dr Bottrill.

"PATA is an organisation growing from strength to strength, and we are poised to play an ever-increasing role as a body representing governments, industry, and education in the fastest area of tourism growth on our planet. The task ahead for us is to embrace change, move fast, engage more, align strategically, and lead within the context of global sustainability goals. It is a privilege to play a small part as Chair in this important period for our industry and our association."

Dr Bottrill oversees a broad and complex portfolio of university internationalisation, international projects and partnerships, tourism and hospitality, film, animation and design programming as the immediate past Dean of the Faculty of Global and Community Studies at Capilano University, current Dean of Fine and Applied Arts, and Director, International.

He has taught a wide array of tourism topics including destination development, sustainability, marketing, and entrepreneurship at universities in Canada, New Zealand, the USA, and Austria.

Along with a PhD in tourism network and destination development from Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, he has extensive applied industry experience having completed over 50 tourism management and development projects around the globe.

Dr Bottrill is also the Director of the acclaimed PATA supported Vietnam Community Tourism project aimed at protecting ethnic hill tribe culture through tourism, and last year he led a PATA study on Indigenous Tourism and Human Rights.

Furthermore, PATA also elected a new Executive Board during the PATA Annual Summit 2018 in Gangneung, Gangwon Province, Korea (ROK) which comprises:

Dato Haji Azizan Noordin, Chief Executive Officer Langkawi Development Authority (LADA), Malaysia;

Ms. Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes, Director Macao Government Tourism Office, Macao, China;

Mr Bill Calderwood, Managing Director The Ayre Group Consulting, Australia.

Mr Jon Nathan Denight, President & CEO Guam Visitors Bureau, Guam, USA.

Mr Shahid Hamid, Executive Director- Dhaka Regency Hotel & Resort, Bangladesh.

Mr Luzi Matzig, Chairman Asian Trails Ltd. Thailand.

Mr Benjamin Liao, Chairman Forte Hotel Group, Chinese Taipei.

Mr Deepak Raj Joshi, CEO Nepal Tourism Board, Nepal.

Mr. Mohamed Sallauddin H.j. Mat Sah, General Manager Marketing Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd, Malaysia.

Mr Gerald Perez, Managing Director Leading Edge, Guam, USA.

"Over the past few years, we have made great progress to ensure financial stability and recognition as a crucial voice in the responsible development of the travel and tourism industry in the Asia Pacific region." Said the new Executive Board PATA CEO, Mario Hardy upon election.

"I look forward to working with our new Executive Board in building upon that success and supporting our members in creating a positive impact on not just the industry, but the world."

Founded in 1951, PATA is a not-for-profit membership association that acts a catalyst for the responsible development of travel and tourism to, from and within the Asia Pacific region. The Association provides aligned advocacy, insightful research and innovative events to its member organisations, comprising 98 government, state and city tourism bodies, 19 international airlines and airports, 91 hospitality organisations and 70 educational institutions, as well as over a hundred young tourism professional (YTP) members across the world.

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