By Louis D’Amore
IIPT Founder & President
Leaders
from all sectors of the travel and tourism industry from more than 50
countries have arrived in Pattaya for the 3rd Global
Summit on Peace through Tourism being held October 2-5, 2005 at the Royal
Cliff Beach Resort and Conference Center.
The Summit is being organized by the International
Institute for Peace through Tourism (IIPT), supported by the Thailand
Convention and Exhibition Bureau (TCEB), and with the support of the World
Tourism Organization (WTO).
Theme of the Summit is One Earth One Family: Travel and
Tourism – Serving a Higher Purpose. Its aim is to develop a 21st
Century Agenda for Peace through Tourism that responds to key global issues.
The Summit is in support of the UN Decade of Peace and Non-Violence for the
Children of the World and the U.N. Millennium Development Goals.
H.E.
Mr. Suwat
Liptapanlop, Deputy
Prime Minister, Thailand
Mayor Khun Nirun Wattanasartsaton will welcome delegates
on behalf of Pattaya City. Deputy Prime Minister H.E. Mr. Suwat Liptapanlop
will officially open the Summit and deliver the Summit Keynote address. The
Opening Ceremony will also feature an address by Republic of Uganda
President, H.E. Yoweri Kaguta Museveni delivered by Uganda Minister of Trade
and Tourism Hon. Megereko, and an address by Louis D’Amore, IPT Founder
and President.
The Regent’s Junior Singers with Mr. Bill Thomson
directing will sing for delegates mid-way through the Opening Ceremony. The
choir’s repertoire will include the world premier of ‘One Earth One
Family’ composed by Mr. Thomson especially for the Summit.
His
Excellency Yoweri Kaguta Museveni
President, Republic of Uganda
A key goal of the 3rd Global Summit on Peace
through Tourism is to develop a sustained travel industry response to the
social and economic re-vitalization of tsunami affected countries in support
of the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA). A plenary session to be
moderated by PATA President and CEO Peter DeJong will focus on identifying
actions and strategies by which the travel and tourism industry can make a
significant contribution to the long-term re-development of tsunami affected
areas, particularly areas which thrive on tourism.
Mr.
Peter de Jong
President and CEO
Pacific Asia Travel
Association (PATA)
In a response to recent terrorist bombings, Ministers of
Tourism and travel industry leaders from the privat sector will debate a
“Strategic Tourism Industry Response to International Terrorism.”
Other key sessions will debate the”Role of Travel and
Tourism in Contributing to the U.N. Millennium Development Goals” and the
“Role of Tourism, Culture, and Sport in Healing the Wounds of Conflict.”
Dr. Kim Hak Su, Executive Secretary, UN Economic and Social Commission
for Asia Pacific (UNESCAP) will give a keynote address on behalf of the
United Nations.
Dr.
Kim Hak Su
Executive Secretary
United Nations
Economic and Social
Commission for Asia and Pacific (UNESCAP)
Global Summit to Forge Asia – Africa
Bridge of Tourism, Friendship and Collaboration
A further goal of the 3rd Global
Summit on Peace through Tourism is to serve as a platform for forging an
Asia-Africa Bridge of Tourism, Friendship and collaboration. Towards this
end, a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Pacific Asia Travel
Association (PATA) and the Africa Travel Association (ATA) will be signed
during theSummit.
Taking part in the signing ceremony will be PATA President and CEO Peter
de Jong and ATA President, Honorable Kabinga J. Pande, M.P., Minister of
Tourism, Environment, and Natural Resources, Republic of Zambia.
Hon.
Kabinga J. Pande
President, Africa Travel
Association (ATA) and
Minister of Tourism,
Environment, and
Natural Resources,
Republic of Zambia
This further goal is in support of the Asia-Africa New
Strategic Partnership Declaration resulting from the Asia-Africa Summit held
in Jakarta, Indonesia, April 22– 23, 2005. The Declaration of the leaders
from 106 countries is based on a spirit of unity, friendship and cooperation
as a foundation for Asian and African nations to develop better relations
and address global issues of common concern.
Participants
The 3rd Global Summit will bring together senior
executives from all sectors of the travel and tourism industry, public and
private; U.N. agencies, donor agencies, and NGOs; leading educators, policy
analysts, researchers, practitioners, entrepreneurs, future leaders of the
industry; and senior representatives from related sectors including:
Culture, Sport, Environment, and Sustainable Economic Development.
Summit Sponsors
Summit sponsors include Resorts Condominium International
(RCI), Reed Travel Exhibitions, Africa Travel Association, Jordan Tourism
Board, Royal Jordanian Airlines, Republic of Uganda and Ministry of Tourism,
Environment and Natural Resources, Republic of Zambia. Pattaya Mail is
pleased to be a Media Sponsor along with other international media
organizations.
Registration
Organizers of the Summit have established a special
registration fee for Thai delegates of US$ 175 and for members of the
Tourism Council of Thailand US$150. Registration is available at
www.iipt.org.
Readers of the Pattaya Mail are welcome to
participate in the 3rd Global Summit on Peace through
Tourism. Registration fee includes participation in all sessions of the
Summit as well as Pre-Summit Forums, Welcome Reception, a Gala Dinner,
Luncheons, and Refreshments Breaks and social functions. Special room rates
are available at the Royal Cliff - mention the IIPT Summit when reserving a
room. Registrations will be accepted on site.
Raini Hamdi
The announcement of not one, but three InterContinental
resorts in three key Thai leisure playgrounds - Samui, Pattaya and Phi Phi
Island - signals that the brand is at last making headways as a contender
for the segment.
Travel agents will note that the last time an
InterContinental resort in the region opened was more than 10 years ago in
Jimbaran Bay, Bali. Since then, although the brand had made strong forays in
cities in the region, especially with the acquisition of its flagship, the
InterContinental Hong Kong (formerly the Regent), in the resort arena, there
was virtually zilch.
In one fell swoop, InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG)
chief executive Asia-Pacific, Patrick Imbardelli, today announced three new
InterContinental resorts in three of Thailand’s desired leisure locations.
His key message is the 50-year-old brand has kept itself relevant at all
times and the three new resorts will further prove itself as one that’s
constantly reinventing and evolving to suit today’s customers.
The three new resorts are small in room count (100-120
villas and rooms) but large in space, natural surroundings and destinational
feel. They aim to be “experiential” and “intimate”; are priced
between US$250 to US$350; opening between 2007 and 2008; and owned by
Jumreon Chittarasnee, owner of the Holiday Inn Phi Phi Island, also managed
by IHG.
“Our guests do not necessarily want ‘the new’
stuff, they want the ‘better’ stuff,” Imbardelli said, when drawn into
a debate on resort brand differentiation among the global chains.
InterContinental would differentiate itself by giving guests greater
flexibility, for instance, or better dining - not necessarily ‘new’, but
‘better’ delivery of common resort indicators.
Director of development South-east Asia, Paul Logan, when
asked if this was the critical mass IHG needed to expand its resorts in the
region, said the issue was “the right fit” and that the region, with
such resort destinations as Vietnam and Sabah, offered lots of opportunities
in the next few years.
For Thailand, still regaining strength after the tsunami,
the IHG announcement, particularly for Phi Phi, is a confidence booster. The
kingdom is likely to benefit from the global hotel management company’s
strong hotel and brand distribution worldwide, 27 million Priority Club
members and state-of-the art PMS (property management system). Owners such
as Jumreon must be seeing the results that they are expanding the
relationship with IHG. One owner also said it helped that IHG came to the
table with “guarantees” what it would undertake, reflecting the
chain’s confidence and commitment to the partnership.
With the three new resorts, IHG has 10 hotels in the
kingdom.
Imbardelli said any time was a good time to expand in Thailand, for its
tourism would always be strong. “We expect Thailand to be back where it
should be in the first quarter of 2006. We would have liked to start
building the three resorts three years ago,” he said. (TTG Asia)
