Global Tourism Forum expands international tourism investment opportunities

Held in Macau, the recent Global Tourism Economy Forum (GTE-Forum) has been acknowledged as a major success, following on the achievement of the iInaugural Forum held in 2012.

Held over three-days, the Forum successfully gathered over 1,000 attendees from around the world, including delegations from more than 10 provinces, cities and autonomous regions in Mainland China.

In addition to marking the signing of the Memorandum of Cooperation between the Global Tourism Economy Research Centre and the World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) again, the Forum successfully deepened exchange and investment cooperation between tourism and tourism-related industries of China and their counterparts in Portugal and Spain through a series of follow-up activities after the inaugural Forum.

The 2013 Forum not only witnessed invited Portugese and Spainish representatives promote tourism investment but also saw increased overseas corporate sponsorship.

Global Tourism Economy Vice Chairman and Secretary-General Pansy Ho stated "to maximize the benefit from the continued tremendous growth potential of tourism, we must optimise what we have in terms of hardware and software. Resources should be shared to gain shared or mutual benefits.

"Creating a system of hubs, which extends to all destinations, with comprehensive transport support network connecting all the touch points, will simplify travel and promote personal mobility. Sharing business resources, be it knowledge, technical knowhow or human capital, will benefit all the industries in the tourism economy."

In his closing remarks, Cheong U, Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture of the Macau SAR Government and Executive Chairman of Global Tourism Economy Forum, stated "this year the Forum has set up a Ministerial Roundtable for tourism officials from various countries to explore opportunities and challenges brought by global tourism growth.

"We have also invited international tourism organisations, tourism industry partners, international business elites and experts to attend a series of discussion sessions. New seminars and promotion sessions were introduced for networking between Mainland China and foreign enterprises as well this year.

"Through a variety of activities, the Forum has encouraged broader discussions and deeper speculation, inspiring new ideas and perspectives, which we believe will highly benefit the long-term and sustained tourism development.

"Reflecting on our experience in organising the past two editions, we will be most well-prepared for the Forum in the year ahead. We sincerely wish the participants can come back to Macau again with their continuous support for the third edition of Global Tourism Economy Forum in September next year."

Among key sessions at the Forum, the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) sponsored 'Creativity and Innovation in Tourism' invited points of view from Asia Pacific Leaders and explored the application of creative, innovative and cutting-edge tourism concepts and techniques to create brand-new tourism products and services, revitalise existing products and optimise cultural and heritage assets so as to enrich common travel experience and generate economic spin-offs from tourism.

Moderated by PATA Chief Executive Martin Craigs, insights were gathered from the speakers including Kaye Chon, Dean of School and Chair Professor, School of Hotel and Tourism Management of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University; Chadatip Chutrakul, Chief Executive of Siam Piwat Company; David Gavaghan, Chief Executive of Titanic Quarter; Grant Horsfield, Founder & Chairman of naked Group Ltd.; Ieong Tou Hong, Chairman of the Macau Economic Development Promotion Association and Honorary Advisor of Global Tourism Economy Forum and Zhang Mei, Founder & Chairperson of WildChina.

The third edition of the Global Tourism Economy Forum will be held once again in Macau next year.

For more information go to www.gte-forum.com/en

Image: Galaxy Macau. 

17th September 2013 - GLOBAL TOURISM ECONOMY FORUM OPENS IN MACAU

6th February 2013 - CASINOS AND ‘DEMAND GENERATORS’ KEY TO THAILAND’S TOURISM SUCCESS

3rd March 2012 - MACAU GAMBLING INCOME RISES 35%

24th May 2010 - US GAMING COMPANY BETS LARGE ON SINGAPORE AND ASIA