The Mekong Tourism Coordinating Office is hosting a half-day Virtual Destination Mekong Summit – themed Balanced Tourism Recovery for a Better Future – to give actionable insights and action steps to businesses operating in the member countries of the Mekong Region.
Registration fees will be waived as a gesture of goodwill for this virtual event organised by public-private partnership Destination Mekong, with sponsorship of UNWTO Affiliate Member Chameleon Strategies.
The format of the Virtual Destination Mekong Summit deploys a "condensed content concept" by getting 40 speakers engage in pointed discussions through 15 short sessions, with a focus of extracting succinct and recommendations and action steps that industry stakeholders can act upon, according to Jens Thraenhart, executive director, Mekong Tourism Coordinating Office.
The UNWTO-endorsed event starts with remarks from the organisation's Asia Pacific director Harry Hwang, followed by an opening keynote from Dr Simon Hudson of South Carolina University in the US, looking at case studies and best practices from all over the world.
The summit will offer two short take-away sessions, led by Horwath's global tourism practice leader Siniša Topalović, who will give delegates a quick view on key ‘dos and don’ts’, drawing on global research of many destinations and travel businesses.
Reflections from past crisis’ and ideas will be discussed by Weearasak Kowsurat, senator and former minister of tourism and sports of Thailand; Htay Aung, former minister of hotels and tourism in Myanmar; Ha Van Sieu, vice chairman of the Vietnam Administration of Tourism; and Rathasak Thong, director general of the Ministry of Tourism of Cambodia in two sessions led respectively by UNWTO's former director for Asia Pacific Xu Jing and Steven Schipani from the Asian Development Bank's Southeast Asia Department.
WTTC head Gloria Guevara, former UNWTO secretary general Taleb Rifai, and former minister of tourism and sports of Thailand Kobkarn Wattanavrangkul, and PATA CEO Mario Hardy will engage in a special reflective discussion, moderated by SunX Program founder Professor Geoffrey Lipman.
Travel Weekly Asia senior editor Xinyi Liang-Pholsena will be leading a discussion on changing sentiments from major source markets, China and Japan.
Other sessions will look at recommendations for the meetings sector, latest data and insights for travel businesses, how to communicate to stakeholders in these times, the ever increasing importance of sustainability including climate change, plastic pollution, child protection, and wildlife conservation, as well as a scenario analysis to prepare for the future today.
The Destination Mekong Summit will also be the launchpad of the new #Mekong Memories campaign to create a content cloud of past experiences to inspire people to #TravelTomorrow, and the new Mekong Deals platform to feature non-refundable vouchers sold by travel operators to help survive the crisis.
The complete programme is available at: https://www.destinationmekong.com/dms2020/