It started on December 23, 2023. Leaders of the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA), the World Tourism Network (WTN), and the International Institute of Peace Through Tourism (IIPT) were the first in the world of travel and tourism to speak out on the escalating situation and the connection to tourism in the Gaza and Ukraine wars.
Today PATA Chairman Peter Semone responded to a request by Bangkok-based Imtiaz Muqbil, the Executive Editor of the Travel Impact Newswire, who is also a contributor on eTurboNews.
PATA Chairman Peter Semone’s Statement on the Conflict Escalation in the Middle East
72 years ago in Hawaii at the first PATA Conference leaders highlighted travel’s role in fostering global understanding post World War II.
Today as then, tourism thrives on peace
The Pacific Asia Region is a living museum and kaleidoscope of the most unique and precious cultures known to mankind.
This diversity is the PATA Region’s greatest asset. With peace achieved across much of Asia and the Pacific in recent decades, destinations have prospered from robust tourism economies and have benefited from the goodwill that comes with tourism and its power to unite people across diverse cultures.
For the tourism industry, any kind of unrest is not good for business. It’s imperative for regional tourism associations like PATA to acknowledge the existential threat that geopolitics poses to tourism.
