PATA: Moving Forward in the Tourism Industry and the Enderun Student Chapter’s Chairperson
On the 1st day of September 2021, the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) Philippine Chapter held its 2nd Business Assembly on Zoom in which their new Chief Executive Officer, Liz Ortiguera was introduced.
Ortiguera holds an exceptional educational background as a graduate of both Stanford and Columbia University’s Graduate Business School, New York University and Cooper Union. She holds 25 years of global experience and expertise in general management, marketing, and business development. Her advocacies include poverty eradication and education initiatives. On top of all of that, one thing you might want to know about her is that this Filipina represents the biggest tourism organization in the world.
As PATA’s newly elected CEO, she mentioned the organization’s strengths being the following:
- Its strong network in addressing global issues with local relevancy and a great level of reach
- Research and insights enabling innovation, intelligent travel solutions inducing sustainability with profitability and conscious consumers
- It’s substantial connections and strong sense of community through which the organization is able to touch every corner of its ecosystem such as development agencies, research firms, tech operations including all kinds of professions and students across regions.
Moving on, Ortiguera presented eight different measures as to PATA’s efforts in helping the recovery of the tourism industry:
- Crisis Resource Center
This is a resource created in May 2020 available to the public that aims to help different parts of the tourism industry recover from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
*View Crisis Resource Center here. - Government Members Only COVID Learning Share Form
These series of sessions have been launched to share knowledge across government members and various industry experts in regards to the pandemic. The CEO states that “Normally, these areas would be competitive in terms of tourism but during a crisis, everyone needs to pull together because human lives are at stake”. - Innovation
As a way to work towards innovation amidst a global crisis, PATA will be holding online seminars by different experts on how-to’s on anything from digital marketing, COVID safety practices, entrepreneurship and many more. - More Frequent Insights and Trends
As consumer interest is evolving, a pivotal question as to how the hospitality industry will evolve surfaces. Being in the know of current insights and trends would definitely spark robust recovery of the industry. - Vaccine Equity
It was said that “vaccine access [to those who are eligible] is foundational to the economic recovery of the region as well as travel recovery”. PATA is said to have been finalizing a partnership with UNICEF who has the reach of various remote locations and resources to turn a vaccine into a vaccination through education and advocacy.
*Learn more about Vaccine Equity here. - Strengthening the PATA Global Community
Due to the limitations of the pandemic, PATA is finding ways to strengthen ties across different parts of the community through online platforms. - Collaboration with Various Global and Regional Organizations
- Destination Resilience Initiative
This helps countries create a playbook that works towards recovery in various aspects including (but not limited to) environmental, economic, health and safety. The Philippines is included in the list for this initiative’s pilot market.
As the assembly had come to an end, the induction of the Central Council Officers took place to which students from various schools including PATTS College of Aeronautics, DLS-CSB, Treston International College, Lyceum of the Philippines University, Jose Rizal University, Far Eastern University, University of Baguio, University of Mindanao and Enderun’s very own Nick Chun who represented the school as the Student Chapter Chairperson.
“I believe that the induction of this title is not something that I own, but something that I owe. I would not have this honor if it was not for the IHM Special Projects Team and of course our very own adviser, Ms. Bel Castro. I consider this induction ceremony as the beginning of a new era for our student chapter. It is also a reminder that we should not stay satisfied with the title we have achieved, but that we will strive to make the most out of it.”
To learn more about the PATA Philippines Chapter, visit www.pataphil.com and register to be part of PATA Youth on https://www.pata.org/youth.
