Registration for the half-day summit has been waived as a gesture of goodwill.
The Mekong Tourism Coordinating Office is hosting a half-day Virtual
Destination Mekong Summit on 25 August – 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 crises 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 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 engage in a special reflective
discussion, moderated by SunX Program founder Professor Geoffrey
Lipman, by giving recommendations and opinions to stakeholders in the
visitor.
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 complete programme is available at: https://www.destinationmekong.com/dms2020/