The
meeting took place January 24 at PATA head office.
Mr
Martin J Craigs, PATA CEO, told the journalists that PATA as a member
of the Global Travel Coalition would increasingly refer to the
“Visitor Economy” as a strategy to make politicians think more
broadly of travel and tourism as a job creation
and poverty alleviating industry. “We will be stressing the
benefits of the ‘Visitor Economy' as a formidable force that every
government should embrace and nurture,” said the PATA CEO.
Mr
David Scowsill said that WTTC would be pleased to bring its Regional
Summit to Thailand in 2015. He told the journalists that the “centre
of gravity” for the travel and tourism industry, was still
European, but that it was moving towards Asia, “which will be the
new centre of gravity within 10 years or so”, he said.
Scowsill
said that the ASEAN region should move towards a Schengen type joint
visa by 2015 and that it should be fully electronic, probably using a
similar model that Australia currently
uses.
The
WTTC's annual Global Summit in Abu Dhabi in early April will be
attended by over 800 industry and government leaders from around the
world. Former President, Bill Clinton will be the keynote speaker and
PATA will be actively participating.
PATA
and WTTC jointly organised the Sendai Recovery and Asia Outlook Forum
during April 16-17, 2012 in Sendai as part of the WTTC Global Summit
held in Japan last year.
