On July 8, 2025, MTC, in cooperation with the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA), conducted a webinar based on the fact that “A Meaningful Pacific Asia Tourism Economy” was officially adopted as the new Vision Statement of the PATA during the PATA Annual Summit in April 2025.
The opening words came from the CEO of PATA, Noor Ahmad Hamid himself, who took the time to underline that tourism has to return to the role as a force for good in the Asia Pacific region and beyond.
The founder of MTC, Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Georg Arlt, provided a short keynote to introduce the concept and the tools of Meaningful Tourism.
The core of the webinar consisted of three presentations by three of the MTC community members and trainers for Cambodia, Laos, Turkiye, and the Philippines.
Catherine Germier, Founder & CEO of Millennium Destinations, gave an account of her own journey from France to Korea and the Mekong region and how she adopted the Meaningful Tourism as the base for her own work and company.
She was followed by Dr. Nurgül Boz, an Assistant Professor at Alanya Alaaddin Keykubat University. Her short but precise presentation discussed how the Meaningful Tourism Transformational Game Workshops can serve as Entry Points to Practical Action, using the example of Turkiye.
The third strong female voice in the webinar spoke about Networks and Information Sources Supporting a Meaningful Tourism Development in the Asia Pacific Region. Rhea Vitto Tabora, Co-Founder of Asia Sustainable Travel (AST) and Founding Editor-in-Chief of Travel Asia Now, clearly pointed out the importance of networks, using practical examples.
She emphasized that we can’t create lasting change working in silos. Networks are what tie us together, allowing us to share experiences, learn from challenges, and celebrate what’s working. Networks act as overlapping circles, bringing together diverse perspectives to create shared solutions for meaningful tourism.
She also highlighted that connections and conversations must be supported by reliable information sources, as clear and practical knowledge is essential for driving meaningful change.
Alexander Rayner, Executive Board Member of PATA followed the three presentations by explaining how and why PATA started to search for a new Vision and decided to use the Meaningful Tourism paradigm, developed by the PATA member MTC and the long-time partner Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Georg Arlt, as the core of the new Vision statement “A Meaningful Pacific-Asia Tourism Economy”.
Unlike many other conference sessions and webinars, the promised Q&A session, led by the MC of the whole webinar, Paul Pruangkarn, the Director – Communications & Marketing of PATA, did actually happen, with 20 minutes spent on answering some of the many questions provided by the audience. Topics ranged from fundamental questions, like the importance of peace within the Meaningful Tourism paradigm, to practical inquiries into the translation into action for hotels and other service providers and the suitability for LDCs.
Thanks to Paul and his experienced PATA team in Bangkok, the webinar went without a glitch, even though the speakers were based across the Asian continent, from Turkiye to the Philippines.
If you missed it or if you want to see the presentations again, a video covering the complete webinar is available here.