PATA New Tourism Frontier Forum, Cox’s Bazar

Dhaka : New Tourism Frontier Forum-2016, organised by Pacific Asia Tourism Association (PATA), will be held at Royal Tulip Sea Beach Resort and Spa, Cox’s Bazar on November 23 to 25.

With only two more months to go for the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development, the New Tourism Frontiers Forum (NTFF) is designed to prepare tourism community for this worldwide agenda.

The United Nations General Assembly has declared 2017 as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development. On a larger scale, this initiative will also drive three of the goals of 2030 UN Agenda for Sustainable Development:

Delving into these issues and more, PATA’s New Tourism Frontiers Forum unites industry experts from leading organisations both locally and around the world for a two-day programme consisting of conference sessions, networking events and an on-ground activity known as the Technical Tour and Tourism Marketing Treasure Hunt.

Rashed Khan Menon, Minister for Civil Aviation and Tourism, is expected to inaugurate the forum. Xu Jing, Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific UNWTO, will present UNWTO special remarks on “Prospects of Asian Tourism,” Yasmin Choudury, Founder, Love-desh will deliver the keynote paper on “Re-defining Fair Trade and Promoting Tourism to Bangladesh.”

Prof. Dr. Shaker Ahmed, Chairman, Tourism and Hos-pitality Department, Dhaka University, will speak at Session 1 on “Building a Sustainable Tourism Destina-tion with Living Heritage Communities” as will Mya Mya Nue, Project Coordinator Chittagong Hill Tracts, EU-funded ICIMOD Rural Tourism Pilot Project and Peter Richards, Consultant on Cultural Tourism Development and Market Access International Trade Center (ITC) of the United Nations.

James Harvey, International Coordinator/Operations Manager Green Fins/The Reef-World Foundation, will deliver a special keynote paper in Session 3 on “Rethinking Sustainable Coastal and Marine Tourism Development” where Tania Miorin, Country Represen-tative Myanmar Istituto Oikos Onlus, Dr. Paul Rogers, Ecotourism Consultant Isti-tuto Oikos Onlus, and Dr Aparup Chowdhury, Chair-man, Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation will be the discussants.

Shahid Hamid FIH, Executive Director Dhaka Regency Hotel and Resort and Chairman, PATA Bangladesh Chapter will chair Breakout 1 session on “Towards Sustainable Tourism with Domestic and Regional Markets” where Raj Gyawali, Founder Social Tours will be a discussant.

Mim Hamal, Co-Founder Nepal’s National Trail Organization for the Great Himalaya Trail will chair Breakout 2 session on “Development and Marketing of Heritage Trails” where Marta Mills, Stakeholder Engagement and Communi-cations Director Trans-Caucasian Trail Association (TCTA) and Marjorie van Strien, Sustainable Tourism and Livelihoods Specialist Nepal will be the discussants.

Damian Cook, Founder and Managing Director E-Tourism Frontiers and Sarah Mathews, Head of Destination Marketing APAC TripAdvisor will speak at Session 5 on “Brand building and marketing of emerging destinations.” Rob Holmes, Founder and CEO, GLP Films will present the closing address while Akhtaruz Zaman Khan Kabir, CEO, Bangladesh Tourism Board will deliver the closing remarks.

The moderators are Jharna Joshi, Coordinator Alliance for Ecoutourism for Session 1 on “Building a Sustainable Tourism Destination with Living Heritage Commu-nities,” Mohammad Shahad Mahabub Chowdhury, Natio-nal Coordinator-Bangladesh Mangroves for the Future, IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature)-Bangladesh Country Office for Session 3 on “Rethinking Sustainable Coastal and Marine Tourism Develop-ment,” Peter Richards, Consultant on Cultural Tourism Development and Market Access International Trade Center (ITC) of the United Nations for Breakout session 1 on “Towards Sustainable Tourism with Domestic and Regional Markets, Peter Semone, Chairman PATA Foundation for Breakout session 2 on “Development and Marketing of Heritage Trails.”

The Forum is being hosted by the Bangladesh Tourism Board (BTB) under the supervision of the Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism, the People’s Republic of Bangladesh. NOVOAIR is the Airline Partner of the Forum.

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