KOTA KINABALU, Feb 14 (Bernama) -- The PATA Adventure Travel Conference and Mart 2020 began on Wednesday, February 12, 2020 in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia, with 107 international delegates from 30 countries in attendance for the three-day niche event, comprising a one-day-travel mart and one-day conference.

The event, which was organised by the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) and hosted by Tourism Malaysia and supported by Sabah Tourism and Malaysia Airlines, brought together international experts at the forefront of the adventure travel industry to explore the nuances, trends and dynamics of one of the fastest-growing tourism sectors.

On Thursday, February 13, delegates will hear from a diverse line-up of speakers at the one-day conference under the theme ‘Ahead of the Curve: Authenticity and Sustainability in Adventure’. The innovators and pioneers, who are shaping the emerging landscape of the adventure travel industry, will examine various conference topics that cover ‘State of Adventure Tourism’, ‘Who Are Our Adventure Tourists?’, ‘Creating Meaningful Adventures’, ‘Sustainable Elephant Experiences’, ‘How to Use Responsible Travel Initiatives to Attract Adventure Tourists’, and ‘Starting Small: How to Integrate Adventure Elements into Your Tour.’

This year’s conference programme also features two concurrent hands-on workshops on Sustainability and Authenticity, led by Eric Ricaurte, Founder & CEO of Greenview and Dan Moore, CEO of Pandion Consulting & Facilitation, respectively.

The conference will be opened by YB Datuk Mohamaddin bin Ketapi, Minister, Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture, Malaysia.

“We are very pleased to be given the honour to host PATA this year, whose theme ‘Authenticity and Sustainability in Adventure’ is in line with our aspirations to highlight Malaysia’s outdoor and adventure attractions to cater to the growing adventure tourism market while adhering to responsible travel initiatives,” commented the Minister.

Other confirmed speakers include Graham Harper, Director - Sustainability & Social Responsibility, PATA; Irshad Mubarak, Owner, Junglewalla Tours; Jessica Yew, Co-Founder & Director, Sticky Rice Travel; Natasha Martin, Adventure Tourism Expert; Pakkanut Bansiddhi, DVM, MSc, PhD, Lecturer, Department of Companion Animals and Wildlife Clinics, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Chiang Mai University; Raj Gyawali, Founder, Socialtours, and Theerapat Trungprakan, President, Thai Elephant Alliance Association.

“The event aims to be a catalyst for generating new ideas and improving collaboration between public and private sector organisations,” said PATA CEO Dr. Mario Hardy. “By bringing together such a dynamic and diverse group of speakers, we hoped to highlight the need to discuss, analyse and share various ideas with both the public and private sector in planning, building and promoting a responsible travel and tourism industry,” he added.

The B2B trade mart on Friday, February 14 will welcome 65 sellers from 51 organisations and 46 buyer organisations.

Presentations and photos from the event will be made available at www.PATA.org/ATCM.


About PATA

Founded in 1951, the Pacific Asia Travel Association (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 more than 800 member organisations, including 95 government, state and city tourism bodies, 20 international airlines and airports, 102 hospitality organisations and 70 educational institutions, as well as over a hundred young tourism professional (YTP) members across the world. The PATA network also embraces the grassroots activism our 36 Chapters and 20 Student Chapters across the world. Thousands of travel professionals belong to the 36 local PATA chapters worldwide, while hundreds of students are members of the 22 PATA student chapters globally. The chapters and student chapters organise travel industry training and business development events. Their grassroots activism underpins PATA’s membership in Uniting Travel, a coalition of the world’s major Travel & Tourism organisations dedicated to ensuring that the sector speaks with one voice and acts in unison on the major issues and includes ACI, CLIA, IATA, ICAO, WEF, UNWTO and the WTTC. The PATAmPOWER platform delivers unrivalled data, forecasts and insights from the PATA Strategic Intelligence Centre to members' desktops and mobile devices anywhere in the world. PATA's Head Office has been in Bangkok since 1998. The Association also has official offices or representation in Beijing and London. Visit www.PATA.org.

About Tourism Malaysia

For more media releases, media info and media features on Malaysia’s tourism industry, kindly visit the Media Centre of Tourism Malaysia’s website at http://www.tourism.gov.my/ 

MALAYSIA TOURISM PROMOTION BOARD OR TOURISM MALAYSIA is an agency under the Ministry of Tourism, Arts & Culture Malaysia. It focuses on the specific task of promoting Malaysia as a preferred tourism destination. Since its inception, it has emerged as a major player in the international tourism scene. In 2018, Malaysia registered 25.8 million tourist arrivals and RM84.1 billion tourist receipts, placing it among the major tourism destinations of the world.


SOURCE : ​TOURISM MALAYSIA

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:
PATA
Name : Mr Paul Pruangkarn
Director - Communications & External Affairs
Bangkok, Thailand
Tel : +66 2 658 2000
Email : communications@pata.org

TOURISM MALAYSIA
Name : Mr Muhammad Aliff Asyraff bin Kamal Nur Zaman
Assistant Director
Corporate Communication Division
Tel : +603-8891 8748 (DL)
Email : muhammadaliff@tourism.gov.my 

--BERNAMA