Thailand, as the host of APEC 2022, will organize a virtual symposium on 25-26 January, 2022, entitled ‘Redesigning the Next Phase of Better Tourism: Dialogue to co-create APEC policy recommendations’.
Hosted by Thailand’s Ministry of Tourism and Sports, the programme for the two-day event features three interlinked sessions with an inspirational line up of tourism and tourism-related speakers from the APEC region.
H.E. Mr. Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn, Thailand’s Minister of Tourism and Sports, will deliver the opening remarks at the commencement of the event.
With the regional response to COVID-19 and the opportunity to build a more resilient future at the top of the agenda, the symposium aims to prepare comprehensive tourism policy recommendations through dialogue that will look at existing tourism development approaches, define key transformational goals, and outline a regenerative tourism framework.
Expected participation in the symposium will be 100 APEC member delegates. A White Paper emanating from the event will be presented as a significant deliverable of the APEC Tourism Working Group in 2022.
The symposium’s first two sessions will be held on Tuesday, 25 January, 2022, with the first session scheduled for 08.00-10.30 Hrs. and the second session from 11.00-13.00 Hrs.
Session One – ‘What Should the Next Phase of Better Tourism Be?’ – will begin with the opening remarks by H.E. Mr. Phiphat, and followed by presentations from panellists Mr. Stewart Moore of Earthcheck, a world-leading scientific benchmarking, certification and advisory group for travel and tourism, on sustainable tourism and environmental well-being; Mr. Parin Mehta, Managing Director Asia Pacific of Airbnb, on the changing face and behaviour of tourists, and Mr. Peter Richards, Project Manager Switch-Asia Tourlink Project ECEAT, on supply chain management followed by a panel discussion and Q&A.
Session Two – ‘Transforming to Something Greater: APEC Policy Recommendations’ – will consist of three breakout room discussions on Economic Wellbeing, Environmental Wellbeing, and Socio-Cultural Wellbeing. Various case examples of tourism models will be shared during these discussions; such as, sustainable gastronomy tourism experience, community-based tourism, and wellness tourism.
On Wednesday, 26 January, 2022, from 13.00-15.00 Hrs., Session Three – ‘Transitioning Towards Regenerative Tourism’ – will begin with a recap on the previous day’s findings before a presentation by Mr. Greg Richards, author of Creating Synergies Between Cultural Policy and Tourism (United Cities and Local Governments). This will be followed by a Q&A and an overall summary of the virtual symposium’s findings, presenting an integrated policy recommendation framework.
With tourism playing a significant role for all APEC members, the ‘Redesigning the Next Phase of Better Tourism: Dialogue to co-create APEC policy recommendations’ symposium is set to prove a key component of the extensive dialogue to be hosted by Thailand throughout 2022, in its leadership role of APEC under the theme “Open. Connect. Balance”. For those who are interested to attend the virtual event, registration is open on a first come, first served basis at https://forms.gle/7WzRakBEfCHqE8eWA .
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