Bangkok, Thailand, March 1, 2023 / TRAVELINDEX / The Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) announces the resignation of Liz Ortiguera as its Chief Executive Officer. Upon her notification, PATA Vice Chair Benjamin Liao said, “Liz served PATA with distinction as the first Asian female CEO in the organization’s 72-year history. On behalf of PATA, I would like to thank her for her leadership of the Association during a difficult period for the industry.”

“We recognize her many accomplishments as PATA CEO including new agreements with the Singapore Tourism Board, the Saudi Tourism Authority and Trip.com as well as the expanded partnerships with Visa, MasterCard, and Airbnb. New projects included PATA’s first Annual Summit in the Middle East, the PATA-Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) APAC Travel Summit, PATA-World Bank Government Recovery Insights Forum Series, the Tourism Destination Resilience Program launch and the ongoing Weekly Asia-Pacific Destination Recovery Dashboard.”

Commenting on her tenure at PATA, Ms. Ortiguera said, “It was a true honor to have served as PATA’s CEO. I am confident that PATA, with its diverse member base of industry leaders, can continue to support and lead our industry’s recovery and growth. PATA is even more critical as a business community today to support new partnerships, innovation, and the adoption of sustainable business practices.”

“I am handing back the reins with thanks to PATA Members for the opportunity to lead at this critical time of global industry recovery. I had the opportunity to work with some deeply committed, hard-working and talented individuals within the PATA team as well as our valued members and partners. They embody the heart and the spirit of what PATA could be in everything they do,” Ms. Ortiguera added.

In response to Ms. Ortiguera’s departure, PATA Chair Peter Semone stated that, “the Executive Board has established five Expert Task Forces or ETFs to review critical elements of PATA’s development strategy, including Brand and Voice, Events, Membership Engagement, Organizational Design and Digital Readiness. The recommendations of these ETFs will help define PATA’s new direction strategically and operationally.”

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 includes government, state and city tourism bodies; international airlines and airports; hospitality organisations, and educational institutions, as well as thousands of young tourism professional (YTP) 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 32 local PATA Chapters worldwide, while hundreds of students are members of the 28 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 official offices or representation in Beijing and London.