PATA Summit revs up delegate drive
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With PATA’s new summit event approaching, Travel Daily Asia’s Mark Elliott talks to PATA President & CEO Peter de Jong for an update.
Set for 29-30 April in Bangkok, the PATA CEO Challenge: Confronting Climate Change aims to bring industry leaders together to discuss climate change and how they can combat it.
TDA: What sales and marketing plans do you have in place to drum up numbers for the event?
We have only just begun to market this - this outline has only been out for a week. While we have been making noises about this event for 8-9 months, we are now ready to start our sales cycle. Talk to me at the end of March and we will have 300-400 people on board. I have no doubt about this.
We’re talking to the media and have a CNN ad campaign. I will also be talking to my colleagues - CEOs of other travel trade associations who are keen to support me by mobilising their membership to attend. Marketing materials are being printed now and our regional directors have a mandate to go to regional events.
TDA: You mentioned having people in different areas around the world - do you have a person focusing on raising support in China?
Absolutely. We have a director in Beijing for the Chinese market, an office in Dubai for the Middle East market, in Frankfurt for Europe, in San Francisco for North America and Sydney for the Pacific region. Our board members will probably provide over 100 new delegates alone.
TDA: In terms of the success of the event, you’ve indicated that you would be happy if it didn’t turn a profit, or if it were to some extent a loss leader.
I’d never be happy to be a loss leader! But this was never intended to be an engine to drive profits. Yes, I’d love to make some money from this event, but I won’t be frustrated if we broke even on this event, or make a modest loss.
In any industry, when you launch a new product, it can take some years to turn a profit, and while we’re all ambitious, we’re more ambitious about content and value. We’re not ambitious about money, because this event’s not about that. To get very important people to an event costs money.
TDA: Do you believe you are learning lessons from what is happening this year, and will you change your approach to future events?
We’re just beginning to learn lessons and the biggest lessons we’ll learn will be during the event. Will the CEOs like the content and are they comfortable with such informality? Even in a media sense, we’re trying to make it very different from previous events.
TDA: And do you truly believe that you can come out of this conference with some real achievable, measurable goals?
Yes, I’d be disappointed if we didn’t have any definite initiatives at the end of this. We won’t be signing documents with cameras and champagne, but if a group of companies can come out agreeing to adopt a single practice, that’ll be an achievement.
TDA: Why should CEOs attend the event and why is it so important?
Each of us in our industry has a role to play in reducing the carbon footprint of our industry, whether you are a single-room hostel in New Zealand or a mega casino in Macau. The PATA CEO Challenge exposes you to some of the best and latest ideas, technologies and initiatives. You need to be there to learn from it because no matter what size your operation or what sector you’re in, there’ll be something for you to pick up. That makes you a better company; it shows your customers that you care about the environment, and in the end, though it seems like a cost to you now, it will work for you and will be a benefit to you.
(In tomorrow’s issue of TDA, Peter de Jong talks about how the travel and tourism industry can reduce its carbon footprint).
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