BANGKOK Pacific Asia Travel Association will establish a Rapid Recovery Task Force to address post-crisis recovery strategies in the face of natural, economic or political upheaval across countries.
Japan, New Zealand, Australia, Myanmar, Thailand, China and many parts of the Middle East have suffered not only from the immediate personal and economic impact, but also the ongoing and residual damage which makes it even harder to restore confidence in the destination as a safe, desirable place to visit, says PATA CEO Bill Calderwood.
“Such misperceptions are difficult to dispel and an unwelcome barrier to the recovery of the tourism economy,” he says. “Therefore, we have been asking ourselves what PATA can do to assist our members across all sectors to speed the recovery and minimize the impact of any negative perception.”
The Rapid Recovery Task Force will be comprised of PATA members who will work on these issues and consequently devise rapid response strategies to provide the industry with a proactive action plan, and resources to speed its recovery post crisis. Bert van Walbeek, chairman of the PATA Thailand chapter, will chair the task force. Other members will include Mario Hardy, David Beirman, Rick Vogel, Ken Scott and Kris Lim.
In what has come to be known as the Beijing Declaration, Calderwood declared that the industry needs to collaborate better across all sectors in the speedy dissemination of information, which must be accurate and concise. He said that PATA will unite with UNWTO, World Travel & Tourism Council and other industry bodies in a global alliance to promote this principle and ensure a consistency of message across the constituencies.
“The UNWTO endorses the principle of the Beijing Declaration and welcomes the opportunity to collaborate with other key global tourism bodies such as PATA to ensure that we assist the rapid recovery of affected destinations,” says UNWTO Executive Director Márcio Favilla L de Paula.