Global Travel News
PATA and Meaningful Tourism Centre Sign MoU
This MOU establishes a collaborative framework for both organisations to drive impactful initiatives that promote meaningful tourism. The agreement reaffirms the shared vision of shaping the future of tourism by fostering sustainable development and industry-wide collaboration.
PATA CEO Noor Ahmad Hamid said, “This partnership marks an important step in strengthening our commitment to tourism that is both responsible and impactful. By joining forces with the Meaningful Tourism Centre, we aim to enhance industry awareness and support initiatives that not only enrich traveller experiences but also bring tangible benefits to local communities, cultural heritage, and the environment.”
Meaningful Tourism Centre CEO Professor Dr Wolfgang Georg Arlt said, “Only a holistic approach which brings benefits and satisfaction to all stakeholders in tourism and hospitality will bring back the positive image our industry used to have as a provider of joy, new experiences and even peace. We have to organise our activities in a way which makes us part of the solution instead of being seen as part of the problem.”
As part of the agreement, PATA and MTC will jointly develop and share best practices, foster industry discussions, and advance research and capacity-building initiatives including trainings and workshops, as well as reciprocal activities such as speaking engagements and industry knowledge-sharing that support more meaningful travel experiences.
Meaningful Tourism is an approach that goes beyond sustainability by ensuring that all tourism stakeholders—travellers, businesses, employees, local communities, governments and the environment—benefit equitably. It emphasises responsible travel that fosters cultural appreciation, protects environmental assets, and enhances the overall experience for both visitors and hosts.
About PATA
Founded in 1951, the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) is a not-for-profit membership association that acts as a catalyst for the responsible development of travel and tourism to, from and within the Asia Pacific region. The Association provides aligned advocacy, insightful research, and innovative events to its member organisations, which include government, state and city tourism bodies; international airlines and airports; hospitality organisations, and educational institutions, as well as youth members across the world. The PATA network also embraces the grassroots activism of the PATA Chapters and Student Chapters, who organise numerous travel industry training programmes and business development events across the world. Thousands of travel professionals belong to the 31 local PATA Chapters worldwide, while hundreds of students are members of the 15 PATA Student Chapters globally. The PATAmPOWER platform delivers unrivalled data, forecasts, and insights from the PATA Strategic Intelligence Centre to members’ desktops and mobile devices anywhere in the world. PATA’s Head Office has been in Bangkok since 1998. The Association also has an official office in Beijing. Visit www.PATA.org.
About Meaningful Tourism Centre Ltd
Meaningful Tourism Centre is a not-for-profit research organisation based in London and Kathmandu promoting the Meaningful Tourism paradigm as the base for creating a holistic approach which provides and measures objective benefits and subjective satisfaction by the way tourism is organised for all six major stakeholders of tourism and hospitality.
The six major stakeholders identified for tourism and hospitality are Travellers, Host communities, Employees in tourism and hospitality service providing companies,Tourism and hospitality service providing companies, Governments on different levels and the Environment.
The Meaningful Tourism approach includes sustainable practices for all aspects of tourism and hospitality, including also areas like hotel construction and financing, all grounded in principles of Positive Psychology and Wellbeing, with an emphasis on activities that benefit individuals, others, and future generations.
Adopting Meaningful Tourism as a strategy is not a “nice-to-have” issue, but necessary for most destinations and service providers to proactively react in a Schumpeter sense of Creative Destruction to the effects of climate change to survive.
Meaningful Tourism provides a practical tool to identify and implement measurable benefits and satisfaction of all stakeholders, measuring them with SMART Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for continuous improvement.
The Meaningful Tourism paradigm has been developed by Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Georg Arlt FRGS FRAS, the founder and director of the Meaningful Tourism Centre Ltd.
Must Try Foods
Gastronomy Cities
Chef's Talk