SYDNEY, 29 October 2021: The former chief commercial officer of the World Tourism Association for Culture and Heritage (WTACH), Nigel Fell, has been promoted to president and chief executive officer, effective immediately.
The WTACH Advisory Board approved the promotion, proposed by former CEO Chris Flynn, on 26 October. Flynn will assume the position of executive chairman of WTACH.
The move will give WTACH two top-line executive officers, Fell and Flynn, who can drive the Association’s agenda in diverse geographical regions of the world. Fell is located in Europe. Flynn in Australia.
Flynn said the new internal arrangement would help WTACH better serve its growing global membership base. It would also make it easier for WTACH to fulfil increasing engagement requests and commitments on behalf of destinations and tourism stakeholders.
WTACH has reported a significant surge in enquiries and engagement requests since the recent easing of travel restrictions around the world.
“Destinations are understandably now seeking to grow their visitor economies more responsibly through enhanced conservation and preservation of their unique cultural heritage assets,” said Flynn.
Fell said that WTACH is “ready” as it has developed robust policy and procedure protocols and training modules to help governments and industry better manage their cultural and heritage tourism (CHT) assets, experiences and delivery.
Fell’s first engagement as president and CEO will be at the QATAR Travel Mart and Conference in Doha from 16 to 18 November. While at the mart, Fell will make two keynote presentations and join panel discussions.
For more information visit: WTACH.org.
About World Tourism Association for Culture and Heritage
WTACH seeks to establish clear goals, objectives and strategies for the protection of cultural heritage through responsible and sustainable tourism practices. Working in collaboration with public, private and specialist academic sector organisations, WTACH determines best practice ethical principles and standards in line with the most robust global research available. WTACH was established in 2018 by Chris Flynn, formerly director – Pacific, at the Pacific Asia Travel Association. WTACH is based in New South Wales, Australia.
