PATA has revealed the winners of the 2024 PATA Gold Awards, with Hong Kong Tourism Board selected as the Grand Title Winner in the Marketing category for its Hello Hong Kong Recovery Campaign and Intrepid DMC Nepal as Grand Title Winner in the Sustainability and Social Responsibility category for its More Intrepid Women for Nepal campaign.
TTG Asia Media was also named the Business Article winner under the Marketing category for TTGmice’s Going green story, authored by Caroline Boey and Karen Yue.
This year’s 20 winners across two broad categories, namely Marketing, and Sustainability & Social Responsibility, were selected from over 100 entries submitted by 47 travel and tourism organisations and individuals.
The winners will be celebrated at the upcoming PATA Travel Mart 2024, to be held at the Queen Sirikit National Convention Center in Bangkok, Thailand on August 28. In addition, all winning entries will be featured in the 2024 PATA Gold Awards booklet, to be published in August, and throughout PATA Travel Mart 2024.
Since its inception in 1984, the PATA Gold Awards honour organisations and individuals for their achievements and commitment to advancing tourism, and is sponsored by the Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO), marking 29 consecutive years of collaboration.
PATA CEO Noor Ahmad Hamid said: “We have witnessed tourism professionals putting more creativity and passion into their work to enhance the tourism economy. I would like to extend my gratitude to all the applicants and judges who have dedicate their time and efforts into making the PATA Gold Awards a possibility.”
An Australian national, he brings a wealth of experience to his first general manager posting. Most recently, he served as the hotel manager at W Sydney, overseeing the pre-opening phase of the world’s largest W Hotel.
Based in Bali and originally from the Netherlands, Dolman brings a wealth of experience and knowledge from working in the hospitality and travel industry for well over a decade.
Cebu in the Philippines faces calls to diversify its tourism offerings after a disappointing year, according to industry experts.
At the recent Philippine Tourism and Hotel Investment Summit 2024 organised by the Philippine Hotel Owners Association (PHOA), an STR presentation revealed that while Cebu’s hotel rates boomed this year, it is still lacking in inbound demand.
STR senior director Asia Pacific, Jesper Palmqvist, further explained that occupancy rates were down to 56 per cent year-to-date in May, a big drop from the 78 per cent in 2018.
“Even if rates are back to historic levels, there’s just not enough international or domestic travellers – it’s a competitive reality as well in South-east Asia, with Phuket and Bali, for instance, growing quickly.”
Addressing the issue, Palmqvist said “diversity is key”, not just for Cebu but for the Philippines. “There is no one single market that replaces the Chinese market,” he opined.
China used to be Cebu’s biggest and the country’s second biggest inbound market, but instead of easing visa restrictions to encourage this market to return, the Philippine government further tightened its visa policies for Chinese visitors.
Palmqvist noted there are clear instances in South-east Asia showing that relaxing visas for Chinese helped tourism levels, as well as airlift, return fairly quickly. He pointed out there seems to be a deeper issue, as the country is missing the mark on its tourism priorities.
Concurring, C9 Hotelworks managing director Bill Barnett said that for Cebu, “it’s a lot about airlift and visas – you cannot stay there if you cannot get there”.
He emphasised: “The Philippines tends to brush off alternative markets like Russia, India and the Middle East… as they want Americans and Europeans.
“The issue is visa agreements – and the Philippine government is asleep at the wheel of tourism. They need to diversify the tourist mix, (which is) a big issue for legacy markets like Baguio, Cebu, and Boracay.”