PATA’s 55th Annual Conference Addresses“Changing Lifestyles, New Opportunities”

“The next decade or two will see more lifestyle changes than in the past century.  Opportunities for the travel industry are limited only by our imagination and creativity,” said Mr Ho Kwon Ping, Executive Chairman, Banyan Tree Group in his keynote address at the opening of the 55^th PATA annual conference in Pattaya, Thailand, this week.

The three day conference attracted more than 1140 delegates including 224 media representatives to the Pattaya Exhibition and Convention Hall, a modern multi purpose complex set on a commanding hilltop overlooking Thailand’s famed beach and leisure playground.

In his address Mr Ho said there were three forces that are driving this change: ageing baby boomers, the rise of the urban middle class in China and India and “the fact that travel aspirations are becoming almost a human need”.

And accelerating this process is technology such as the introduction of newer and cheaper aircraft, he added.

“The convergence of trends within the domains of demography, economy and culture – in other words, people, places and desires – is creating the biggest boom in travel, tourism and lifestyle trends in over a hundred years,” said Mr Ho.

The Governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand, Ms Juthamas Siriwan was very upbeat in her assessment of the rebound in tourism to the country.

Thailand welcomed more than 12 million arrivals in 2005 with 13.8million arrivals projected this year.  Tourist arrivals this year are expected to generate more than US$20 billion in foreign exchange.

During the first three months of the year the number of tourist arrivals at Don Muang International Airport stood at 2.56 million, a 29.4 per cent increase on the same period last year.

Ms Siriwan said that the country has launched a year long series of special events for visitors to celebrate the 60^th anniversary of His Majesty, King Bhumibol Adulyadej’s accession to the throne. 

The events being promoted under the banner “Thailand Grand Invitation 2006” will be highlighted with a royal barge procession on June 12.

She said that Bangkok’s new Suvarnabhumi Airport is on track to open in the second half of the year.  Construction is nearly complete and an extensive program of testing is underway.

The airport which will be some five times bigger than the existing Don Muang International Airport will have the world’s largest hangar – capable of housing three A360 Airbus aircraft – 51 gates and some 460 check-in counters. 

The airport will also have the largest single terminal in the world.

Around 15,000 staff will be employed while a rapid train link to connect the airport to Bangkok is expected to be in operation in 2007.

The airport which is capable of handling around 45 million passengers a year is 25 km from the city, about the same distance as Don Muang. While a definite decision has not yet been made, the Thai government is considering that it might keep Don Muang open for low cost carrier operations.

Another high profile speaker who addressed delegates at the opening of the conference was Mr Suwat Liptapanlop, the Deputy Prime Minister of Thailand. 

He said that Thailand was fully committed to expanding the country’s tourism industry based on the principles of “innovation, the enhancement of human skills and collaboration with all stakeholders.” 

“We believe that sharing experience and best practices especially in the areas of agricultural development, public health and tourism will close the economic gap between countries in the region,” he said.

A series of press briefings were also made by national tourist offices and commercial enterprises during the three day conference.

During the media conference organised by SriLankan Airlines, Barry Brown, Chief Commercial Officer, said that “Sydney and Melbourne are definitely on the agenda”.

Several issues have to be resolved including a decision on the renewal of the management contract with Emirates and the acquisition of aircraft. 

Mr Brown said that he would like to initially see a daily service to Australia with one city getting three flights a week and the other four flights a week.  Eventually we want to have a daily service out of both Melbourne and Sydney, he said.

Meanwhile Macau is gearing up to more aggressively promote itself as a significant player in the MICE market. Australia is in 10^th place for tourist arrivals with 61,646 Australians visiting the 27.3 sq. km World Heritage listed destination in 2005.

Tourist officials are confident that the UNESCO declaration of Macau’s Historic Centre as a place of world significance last year will attract new visitors looking for culture and sophistication.

Meanwhile, the Packer organisation is building the world’s first underwater casino in Macau waters.  Construction has started on this flagship project which is expected to be opened in 2008.

In the meantime, two more Macau based airlines are preparing to take to the skies with the aptly named Viva looking at international destinations.  The first of these will be Jakarta later this year.  The airline is understood to be interested in destinations south of Indonesia!

During the briefing organised by the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, it was announced that the Government of Vietnam has recently approved the establishment of representative offices in key markets. 

Australia, Japan, France and China are considered to be the highest priority for the establishment of tourist offices after budgets have been finalised.

Meanwhile Mr Jero Wacik, Minister for Culture and Tourism of the Republic of Indonesia was very emphatic when he said, “I will open the Indonesia Tourist Office in Australia.”

The cordial minister who had praise for Australians who continued to support Indonesia as a significant tourist destination even in the wake of several grave events said that there was only a slight decrease in arrivals last year.  Of the 5 million visitors in 2005 Australians accounted for about 400,000 arrivals.     

The minister said that he intends to boost spending on international promotions to US$18 million this year which has been designated as ‘The Year of Marine Tourism’.  A major campaign is being undertaken to emphasise Indonesia’s rich marine environment and bio diversity.

Already Indonesia is preparing to play host to delegates attending the PATA Travel Mart from 25 – 28, September 2007 in Bali. 

A PATA Annual Conference will not be held in 2007 following the decision to create “a shorter, more innovative, business-focused event” that will debut in a yet-to-be-named city in 2008.

Report by Thomas E. King

Related News Stories: