Tourism Leaders Gather in Samoa

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. February 08, 2010

8 February 2010 - Over 150 delegates have descended on the Pacific island paradise of Samoa today, for the inaugural Tourism Investment for the Development of Enterprise and Sustainability (TIDES) conference. Sponsored by Pro€Invest of the European Commission as part of the EU's African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP). The event brings together a think tank of influential leaders from across the tourism and environmental sector.

TIDES, an event organised by The Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA), is a mechanism for tourism sector of the South Pacific to network with international and regional business and financial organisations as a means to explore business and partnership opportunities. The conference program features a host of expert presenters who specialise in a variety of tourism and related industries. Their focus will be the importance of tourism as an economic and social enabler and the need to find solutions to the many impediments which currently stifle tourism growth in the region.

“We expect this conference will help raise awareness of the Pacific region's tourism potential,” said Chris Flynn, Regional Director Pacific of PATA. “It will also allow attendees to develop or strengthen international partnerships and help them define the industry's direction, as it emerges from the Global Financial Crisis.”

Speakers have been drawn from a cross-section of academia, government and private sector businesses and organisations such as Anna Pollock, CEO of Desticorp an internationally renowned strategist and visionary to the tourism sector. Among others who are participating is Stewart Moore, CEO of EC3 Global; the world's largest environmental sustainability certifier for the travel and tourism sector.

“Risk Management is a topic that's very close to the heart of tourism operators,” explained Moore in reference to the workshop he will be conducting. “The tsunamis that so tragically struck both Samoa and Tonga in 2009 have added to concerns regarding how best to mitigate against such devastation and deal with likely impacts that climate Change will have on the region.”

Having recently conducted a series of Risk Management workshops on behalf of Tourism Queensland, Moore will be passing on this knowledge to Pacific island tourism operators and providing Risk Management tool kits at the TIDES event.

Aimed primarily at the regional and international investment community, it is hoped that TIDES will provide opportunities for Sellers of tourism product to network with Buyers, attract much-needed foreign investment and gain knowledge that will help this vital sector of the economy to prosper and grow well into the future.

EC3 Global is the world's largest certifier of sustainable travel and tourism operators. With more than 1000 clients in over 60 countries, EC3 Global provides Benchmarking, Certification and performance improvement systems to help businesses improve operational efficiencies. EC3 Global has exclusive rights in the Asia pacific region to certify using the Green Globe scheme, exclusively using Earthcheck to provide a certification system that responds directly to the major environmental problems facing the planet, including climate change, waste reduction and non-renewable resource management.

PATA
Founded in 1951, PATA is the recognised authority on Asia Pacific travel and tourism. PATA provides leadership and advocacy to the collective efforts of nearly 100 government, state and city tourism bodies, more than 55 airlines and cruise lines, and hundreds of travel industry companies. In addition, thousands of travel professionals belong to dozens of PATA chapters worldwide. PATA is a not-for-profit organisation.