Cook Islands attend leadership summit
Destinations across Asia Pacific are faced with a changing landscape of travel. Governments are now having to manage more than just their destination marketing but management of their destination.
2018 has been a year of change in the digital world, with a global discussion of online influence, privacy and the role of data. With so many changes and continuing evolution of the travel space, UNWTO, PATA and Trip Advisor organised an event that put Destination Marketing Organisations (DMO’s) in a room to hear from experts in their field and discuss pertinent issues and perspectives. Cook Islands Tourism Corporations Chief Executive Officer Halatoa Fua and Director of Sales & Marketing (Global) Karla Eggelton attended the first Asia Pacific Destination Leadership Summit held in Sydney, Australia.
The 2 day programme covered multiple topics of interest, with key notes from the likes of John O’Sullivan (CEO Tourism Australia), Greg Klassen (former CEO of Canadian Tourism Commission), Siripakorn Cheawsamoot (Deputy Governor for Policy and Planning, Tourism Authority of Thailand), Sandra Chipchase (CEO, Destination New South Wales), Mike Bennett (Global Vice President of Display Sales, Trip Advisor) and Charlie Ballard (Director Strategic Insights, Trip Advisor). CEO Halatoa Fua and Tahiti Tourisme CEO Paul Sloan participated by presenting some short case study presentations of their respective destinations. Participants included Pacific Islands of Tahiti, Vanuatu, Solomons, Palau, Samoa, American Samoa, Tonga. Asia representation was strong, as was New Zealand and Australia.
