PATA establishes Rapid Recovery Task Force

PATA has established a Rapid Recovery Task Force (PRRT).

The PRRT is a standing task force of the PATA CEO and seven volunteers who will collectively try to help PATA member destinations during and after times of crisis, such as SARS, floods, tsunamis, disease outbreaks and terrorist incidents, all of which have had a massive impact on Asia Pacific destinations in the last 10 years or so.

The objective of the PRRT is to help destinations return to ‘normal’ as quickly as possible.

Members of the taskforce include: David Beirman, Senior Lecturer, University of Technology, Sydney; Emma Cashmore, Managing Director, Axis Travel Marketing, London; Martin J Craigs, PATA CEO, Bangkok; Walt Judas, Vice President Marketing Communications, Tourism Vancouver; Alexander Kesper, Security and Safety Executive, Bali Hotels Association, Denpasar; Ken Scott, Managing Director, ScottAsia Communications, Bangkok; and Rick Vogel, President, Include Ltd, Tokyo.

The PRRT is led by Bert van Walbeek, Managing Director of Thailand-based consultancy The Winning Edge, and Chairman of PATA Thailand Chapter.

The PRRT Chairman, van Walbeek, said, “The complete visitor economy is so vital to jobs and people’s well being that having tourists stay away for a prolonged period can cause untold additional damage – over and above the negative impact of the original crisis. The skilled crisis professionals on the PRRT will work closely with the impacted destination to restore normalcy as soon as possible.”