The Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) Annual Summit 2024 will be held May 15 to 17 in Macao. The event is expected to gather around 400 tourism industry delegates from the Asia Pacific region for a string of internal meetings of the association, along with a high-profile international tourism conference, helping to showcase to participants Macao’s “tourism + MICE” offerings. 

Organized in a different destination each year, the summit is one of the highlight annual events of PATA. This year’s summit is hosted by the Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO) and co-hosted by SJM Resorts, S.A., and will take place at Grand Lisboa Palace Resort Macau.

Delegates from Asia Pacific to converge in Macao for the summit

The three-day PATA Annual Summit 2024 kicks off at the middle of next week (May 15) with a string of meetings for members coming from across the Asia Pacific region, including the Executive Board Meeting, Government Roundtable, Chapter Congress, among others. MGTO and other Macao tourism industry members of PATA will be attending several of the meetings.

Greater Bay Area and overseas students to attend Youth Symposium

Younger members of PATA will also gather in Macao. The PATA Youth Symposium 2024 will be held on the morning of May 16 at the Macau University of Science and Technology with the program including panel discussions with industry leaders, mentorship sessions and more tailormade for PATA Student Chapter members from abroad and tourism students from the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

International tourism conference featuring 40 speakers

The opening ceremony of the summit is scheduled for May 16 afternoon, kicking off a major two-day international tourism conference under the theme of “Reimagining Tourism”. Over 40 speakers from around the world will participate in more than 20 sessions, including keynotes and themed presentations, panel discussions and roundtable debates.

Sessions to zoom in on tourism trends and hot topics 

With the focus set on the tourism development trends in the Asia Pacific region, as well as related to Macao as the host destination, the sessions cover: from tourism policies to marketing and branding, air travel, hotel industry, travel technology and artificial intelligence, educational tourism, nighttime economy, gastronomy tourism, tourism synergies to diversify economy and more.

The line-up of speakers features tourism heads and top industry leaders from several destinations, including MGTO Director, Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes, and the Executive Chairman and Managing Director of Shun Tak Holdings Limited, Pansy Ho. Experts from the Economist Impact, Euromonitor International, World Travel and Tourism Council, Visa, Mastercard, Booking .com, Tripadvisor, among many others, will also speak at the conference. 

Showcase Macao tourism appeal in first post-pandemic event

An important part of the PATA Annual Summit program is the opportunity for delegates to experience firsthand the tourism appeal of the host destination. Participants will have the opportunity to join workshops on Macao’s east-meets-west heritage like Macanese desserts, along with a night city tour on an open top bus, a half-day “Tour at Macao Heritage, Coloane and Taipa”, as well as separate sightseeing tours to Hong Kong and Hengqin, to experience Macao and multi-destination tourism in the region.

Introducing Macao’s new developments to international delegates

For decades, PATA and its organized events have been a significant platform for Macao tourism industry to connect with global travel trade and raise its destination profile in the world. Macao successfully hosted PATA Travel Marts in 2010 and 2017, as well as the PATA Annual Conference in 2005. The PATA Annual Summit is the first major PATA event Macao hosts after the pandemic, providing the opportunity to showcase to delegates from around the Asia-Pacific and beyond an update about the new developments and advantages of the destination, along with its latest “tourism + MICE” offerings.

For details and updates about the program of the PATA Annual Summit 2024 visit the event webpage: www.PATA.org/pata-annual-summit-2024.