Tourism | MGTO attends PATA Board meeting in Sichuan

Kathy Iong (second from rigth) with PATA CEO Mario Hardy (first from left) and new PATA Chairman Kevin Murphy

The Macau Government Tourist Office (MGTO) attended the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) Board Meeting held in Leshan, Sichuan province yesterday. Throughout the last few days of the conference, MGTO also joined the PATA Annual Summit, the Annual General Meeting and other key meetings of the association.
The Head of MGTO’s Communication and External Relations Department, Kathy Iong, was in Leshan for the event, where she represented MGTO at the PATA Board Meeting. MGTO is one of the PATA Board members for the years 2014-2016, hence its seat at the meeting. MGTO also attended the PATA Annual General Meeting yesterday, which was followed by the announcement of a new PATA chairman and vice chairman, Kevin Murphy and Andrew Jones, respectively.
The four-day event also included the PATA Annual Summit 2015 conference, held on Friday. This year’s conference, themed “New Dimensions of Heritage and Culture Tourism”, featured opening remarks from China National Tourism Administration Vice Chairman Li Shihong and officials from Sichuan, as well as presentations from domestic and international speakers on topics such as heritage site preservation, social media in China and sustainable travel.
Founded in 1951, PATA is a non-profit membership association dedicated to the responsible development of the Asia-Pacific travel and tourism industry. Macau has been a PATA member since 1958. PATA members include 87 government, state and city tourism bodies; 31 airlines, airports and cruise lines; 61 educational institutions, and hundreds of travel industry companies.