PATA New Leadership Puts Peace Tourism in the Spotlight

KUCHING, Malaysia — The Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) has completed the line-up of its Executive Board with five additional members, broadening the geographic and industry representation of one of Asia Pacific tourism’s most established organizations.

But at the PATA Travel Mart 2026 in Kuching, another development unfolding quietly in a far corner of the exhibition floor may prove just as significant.

It was about Peace Tourism — and the possibility that travel can help rebuild understanding when conventional dialogue fails.

For me, the two developments are connected.

PATA announced the election and appointment of five additional Executive Board members:

- Jennifer Chun, Director of Tourism Research, Hawaii Tourism Authority, USA — Secretary/Treasurer

- Yang Li, Head of Public Affairs, APAC, Booking.com, Singapore — Executive Board Member

- Ibrahim Shiuree, CEO and Managing Director, Visit Maldives Corporation, Maldives — Executive Board Member

- Alhasan Aldabbagh, President, APAC, Saudi Tourism Authority, Saudi Arabia — Non-Voting Executive Board Member

- Suman Pandey, Group Chairman, Explore Himalaya Travel & Adventure, Nepal — Non-Voting Executive Board Member

Chun, Li and Shiuree were elected, while Aldabbagh and Pandey were appointed as non-voting members.

The appointments give the PATA leadership an interesting mix of destination management, research, technology, government, adventure travel and international tourism development.

“We are delighted to welcome Jennifer, Yang, Ibrahim, Alhasan and Suman to the PATA Executive Board,” said Henry Oh, Chairman of PATA. “With the Board now fully constituted, we look forward to drawing on their diverse experience, knowledge and perspectives as we continue to strengthen PATA and support collaboration across our membership and the wider tourism industry.”

Jennifer Chun brings the research and destination-development perspective of the Hawaii Tourism Authority. Yang Li adds the rapidly evolving world of digital travel platforms through his role at Booking.com. Ibrahim Shiuree represents the priorities and vulnerabilities of one of the world’s best-known island tourism economies.

Alhasan Aldabbagh adds the perspective of Saudi Arabia, a country undertaking one of the world’s most ambitious tourism-development programs, while veteran Nepal tourism entrepreneur Suman Pandey provides continuity, institutional knowledge and decades of experience in adventure and experiential tourism.

They join Chairman Henry Oh of Global Tour Ltd; Vice Chair Ben Montgomery of Centara Hotels & Resorts; Executive Board members Jackson Pek of Amadeus, Maria Paz Alberto of Ark Travel Express, Siripakorn Cheawsamoot of Thailand’s Designated Areas for Sustainable Tourism Administration, and Dr Sharzede Salleh Askor of the Sarawak Tourism Board.

PATA CEO Noor Ahmad Hamid serves ex officio. That is the official leadership story.

But another story was developing on the PATA Travel Mart floor.

For the first time, a Korean organization dedicated to promoting Peace Tourism exhibited at the PATA Travel Mart.

The South-North Korea Exchanges and Cooperation Support Association (SONOSA) describes Peace Tourism as a “way to build understanding and trust through the simple act of travel.”

Its message is straightforward: Even when political dialogue stalls, tourism can continue connecting people and cultures. Peace Tourism can therefore become a bridge where conventional dialogue has broken down.

The SONOSA booth was buried in the far-right corner of the exhibition floor — what could politely be described as a twilight-zone location. I noticed it immediately.

I spent roughly half an hour talking to the team, sometimes directly and sometimes through both human and AI interpretation.

The mission made sense. What I initially could not understand was why SONOSA had chosen the PATA Travel Mart as the platform to promote it.

Was this somehow connected with PATA’s Annual Summit in Gyeongju-Pohang, Korea, last May? Was it linked with the election of Korean tourism executive Henry Oh as PATA Chairman?

Apparently not.

SONOSA Business Division Exchange Department General Manager Hwasoon Nam told me they knew nothing about such a connection.

That made their presence even more interesting.

The booth attracted the attention of PATA Foundation Chairman Andrew Jones.

Knowing my longstanding interest in Peace Tourism, Andrew and I briefly discussed how the PATA Foundation might help advance the concept, perhaps in cooperation with other organizations sharing similar values, including Rotary Clubs. As the day progressed, something else happened.

People began stopping at the SONOSA booth.

The organization had set up a simple polling exercise asking visitors whether they had heard about Tourism for Peace. Visitors could place a red-dot sticker alongside their answer.

A surprisingly large number chose: “This is news to me.” That was revealing in itself.

Even more interesting was the significant interest expressed in visiting North Korea.

Here was a tourism trade fair doing what tourism supposedly does best: triggering curiosity about places, people and cultures separated by political barriers.

I then visited exhibitors representing Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Berlin, today the capital of a reunited Germany. The parallels were impossible to ignore.

Berlin was once physically divided by the Cold War. Today it proudly positions itself as a City of Freedom and is home to ITB Berlin, the world’s largest international tourism trade show.

Sarajevo carries the scars and memories of another devastating European conflict. Korea remains divided.

These destinations have very different histories, but they share something fundamental: first-hand experience of war, division, recovery and the enormous human task of reconciliation.

They also have something to teach the global tourism industry. How does a destination tell the story of conflict without exploiting suffering? How can tourism preserve historical memory while encouraging reconciliation?

Can former battlefields, divided cities, borders, memorials and museums become places not merely of remembrance but of learning?

And can tourism help younger generations understand what happens when political, ethnic and ideological divisions overwhelm humanity?

These are no longer academic questions.

Vietnam and Cambodia were also represented at the Travel Mart. Both endured devastating wars and today have thriving tourism economies.

Unfortunately, I did not have enough time to speak with their delegates. But their presence strengthened the larger message.

Across Asia and beyond, many of today’s tourism success stories are destinations that only a few decades ago were associated internationally with war, instability or political division.

Tourism became part of their recovery.

Now, as the world again confronts conflict, geopolitical rivalry and deepening social divisions, perhaps the industry needs to rediscover that role.

For decades, “tourism is a passport to peace” has been one of the industry’s most frequently repeated slogans. The problem is that slogans are easy. Implementation is harder.

That is why PATA’s newly constituted Executive Board matters beyond governance.

Its members represent Hawaii, Singapore, the Maldives, Saudi Arabia, Nepal, Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines, and major international travel companies. Collectively, they span destinations, technology, sustainability, research, hospitality, aviation technology, public policy and private enterprise.

That diversity gives PATA an opportunity.

Peace Tourism need not become another conference slogan or ceremonial declaration. It can become a serious field of tourism policy, research, product development, education and destination cooperation.

PATA’s stated mission includes sharing knowledge, enabling networking and protecting tourism economy assets across the Pacific Asia region.

Peace is surely one of the most important assets of all. Without it, tourism disappears.

What happened in Kuching was modest. There was no grand declaration. No huge stage. No celebrity keynote.

Instead, there was a small Korean booth in a remote corner of a trade-show floor, a collection of red stickers, some curious visitors and conversations crossing language barriers with the help of human beings and artificial intelligence.

Sometimes ideas begin that way. Collectively, the presence of Korea, Sarajevo, Berlin, Vietnam and Cambodia made the PATA Travel Mart 2026 something more than another marketplace for buyers and sellers.

It became a place where the cause of Peace Tourism took a significant step forward.

In today’s age of conflict and chaos, there is every reason for the concept to move into the mainstream of Travel & Tourism debate. The question should no longer be whether tourism benefits from peace. That is obvious.

The more important question is whether Travel & Tourism itself can become part of the solution — and help create it. For PATA’s new leadership, that could be a mission worth embracing.

Reporting originally appeared via eTurboNews. Read the full source for additional context.