BANGKOK, 3 April 2020: The Covid-19 crisis has handed the Pacific Asia Travel Association’s CEO, Mario Hardy, a six-month extension of his work contract to 31 May 2021.
He was due to step down 31 December this year at the end of the current contract, but the association’s chairman Chris Bottrill confirmed, Thursday, the executive board had approved the extension.
Bottrill said the search for the new CEO would begin this September.
“It is unprecedented in our lives to experience such uncertainty and vulnerability as a society, and never before has our industry been impacted so heavily and so comprehensively,” he told the members in an email post this week.
“Clearly, this global crisis will change us and what we do. While I am no more qualified than the next to predict what this will mean to our future and the future of travel and tourism, what I would like to convey is that it is our interconnectedness as an industry that has made us grow and kept us strong for so long. It is these connections that will help us emerge from this together. With this in mind, I hope our PATA community is of value to you in these challenging times.”
In related news following the postponement of the 69th Annual General Meeting that was due to take place during the PATA Annual Summit 2020 in Ras Al Khaimah, UAE, last month, the PATA Board extended the terms of PATA officers and the Executive Board until September.
The re-scheduled 69th AGM that will now take place on the sidelines of the board meeting 5 September 2020 in Leshan, China.
The PATA Board has also confirmed that the term of elected PATA Officers would be extended to cover 18-months from September 2020 to May 2022.
If it is not possible to meet in Leshan, Bottrill said the AGM would go ahead online through the Zoom meeting platform software which would be a first for a PATA AGM.
The PATA Travel Mart 2020 planned for Leshan, Sichuan province China, 3 to 6 September, remains on the calendar in the hope that the global pandemic will be in remission by then.
The PATA Annual Sumit, cancelled last month due to the Covid-19 crisis, will be hosted by Ras Al Khaimah 23 to 26 March 2021.
