The Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) Travel Mart 2017 will commence this Wednesday, marking its 40th anniversary in the region. The event will last two days and welcome more than 1,000 PATA Travel Mart delegates from over 60 destinations.
A total of 26 local tourism operators will promote their businesses from the booths at The Venetian’s Cotai Expo, including hotels, travel agencies and transport companies.
The Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO), the host of the event, said in a statement that it would promote the attractions of mainland China among the China Maritime Silk Road Tourism Promotion Alliance.
Along with Guangdong and Hong Kong tourism authorities, the three neighboring regions will promote multi-destination tourism with a joint booth and luncheon for delegates.
Another feature of PATA Travel Mart is its educational events on recent topics and trends in the industry, presented by international speakers for the travel industry and aspiring tourism professionals.
On September 13, the Institute for Tourism Studies will host PATA Youth Symposium 2017, bringing together local and international tourism students from PATA Student Chapters to discuss the topic “Enabling Travel and Managing a Complex Future.”
One of the speakers who will share his experiences with students will be AirAsia Group CEO Tony Fernandes.
The PATA Travel Mart Forum will run concurrently at The Parisian Macao, beginning with a morning session that will focus on strategies, business models and current technologies related to smart digital travel.
The afternoon session will present a Blogger and Key Opinion Leader Forum, which will debate “The Most Effective Influencer Marketing Strategies in Travel in 2017”, sponsored by the Professional Travel Bloggers Association. Four additional PTM Talks are scheduled during the event.
MGTO also announced that from September 15 to 17, PATA will also conduct a series of internal meetings such as the PATA Executive Board and Board Meeting, along with MGTO director Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes, who is currently serving as an Executive Board member of the Association. Other highlights of event include the PATA Gold Awards Luncheon and Presentation on September 15.
Three of the 31 winning tourism entities of the 2017 PATA Gold Awards are from Macau. The three are Sands China Ltd. with two PATA Gold Awards (in the categories of Environment – Corporate Environmental Programme and Marketing Media – Travel Advertising Broadcast Media), and Melco Resorts & Entertainment (winner of the PATA Gold Award for Marketing – Hospitality).
