BROUGHT TO YOU BY ASIA REGION 51 Dr Mario Hardy CEO, PATA MEKONG TOURISM FORUM: FILM TOURISM AND VISUAL STORYTELLING Category: Deep Dive Sessions Date: Today, March 6, 2019 Time: 3pm - 3:45pm Location: CityCube Berlin, Cube Club Continued growth in Asia… that’s no surprise! PATA CEO Dr Mario Hardy talks about the future of his organisation, and that of tourism in the region PATA CEO Dr Mario Hardy has been four and a half years at the helm of the organisation now. We asked him what he sees as being the “journey” for PATA for the coming years, and what his “vision” is in this respect. Four years ago, PATA started on a journey of becoming financially sustainable which we have now achieved. Moving forward, our focus is about increasing PATA’s influence and thought leadership, as well as taking a strong stance when we see threats or injustice in our sector. Most importantly, our mission has and will always be about increasing our members engagement with the tourism sector at large and between members in general. What are the key findings of your “Asia Pacific Visitor Forecasts 2019-2023”? It would not be a surprise if I told you that we see “growth” across the Asia Pacific region over the next five years. However, it is fair to say that it is uneven growth, as some destinations are on the verge of having too much while others suffer from “undertourism”. The latter is especially true for the islands of the Pacific due to their remoteness and accessibility challenges. Should APAC nations be trying to diversify more in their source markets? At the recent ASEAN Tourism Forum in Ha Long Bay, Vietnam, I had the opportunity to highlight to the ASEAN tourism ministers the pressing need for diversifying their source markets. I asked them to play a simple exercise by taking their number one source market and removing it from the equation, then see what impact it would have on their tourism economy. Why is this important, because we have seen in recent time how political and economic shifts can affect tourism arrivals into a destination. Like any good investment advisor would tell you, diversification and a balanced portfolio are key to a good investment portfolio, the same theory applies here. How is the Chinese outbound market expected to evolve in the coming years? What will be the main trends? The overall Chinese outbound market is still on the rise despite the economic slowdown in China. We have seen a decline of Chinese tourism arrivals in certain markets, in some instances this may be temporary while in others it is driven by a simple shift in interest of the Chinese consumer. In the future, we will see an increasing amount of Chinese FIT with a desire to be more adventurous in their choice of destinations. One of your favourite topics is AI. Why so? I am curious by nature and fascinated by the possibilities of AI in solving real-world human challenges, and equally concerned that humans may use AI for the wrong purpose. My fascination with the tech world is beyond my day job at PATA, however, AI is already starting to make an impact on the tourism sector. The tech to watch is voice assistance and how it will soon be an integral part of our daily life. THE TECH TO WATCH IS VOICE ASSISTANCE AND HOW IT WILL SOON BE AN INTEGRAL PART OF OUR DAILY LIFE. What activities are planned for PATA’s presence at ITBBerlin? PATA is once again addressing innovative and relevant topics that will be of interest to PATA members and industry colleagues at a seminar on Thursday, March 7 at 10:30 - 14:00 hrs at the Grosser Stern, Room Hong Kong (Fairground). The seminar on ‘Leveraging Best Practice Branding and Marketing to Attract Higher-Value Travel Consumers’ is comprised of two sessions on ‘Digital KPIs Every Destination Marketer Should Embrace in 2019’ and ‘Utilizing Destination Brands to Attract Higher Value Travel Consumers’. The first session, presented by ADARA Vice-President of Resort & Destination Analytics, Ted Sullivan, will focus on moving beyond traditional KPIs to improve marketing effectiveness. The second session, delivered by Oliver Martin, Partner at Twenty31 Consulting, will examine how destinations can position their unique selling points so that they can succeed in this increasingly digitized world and will include panellists from leading destinations around the world. The session will be immediately followed by lunch in the same venue ITB BERLIN NEWS • Wednesday 6 th March 2019
