Pacific-Asia Tourism CEO Says Global Vaccine Equity Is Key to Recovery
Photo Credit: PATA CEO Liz Ortiguera is leading on several initiatives to restart tourism equitably in Asia. Flickr Commons / Nikki Navio
Skift Take
For Pacific Asia Travel Association CEO Liz Ortiguera, there's no sustained recovery for global tourism whilst billions lack vaccine access. Will her North American and European counterparts step up and join her call to push for vaccine equity?
From the start of the pandemic, the Pacific and Asia region took a separate trajectory from the rest of the world. Longer lasting border closures and a stricter approach towards Covid control, as well as a delay in vaccine access in some parts, have translated into a distinct tourism recovery picture.
Northeast Asia, South East Asia and South Asia were particularly hard hit in 2021, with international arrivals totalling less than 10 percent the volume of 2019, according to the Pacific Asia Travel Association, and trailing the Americas’ recovery pace.
Some destinations have been reopening slowly since last year, from Thailand to Fiji, and the process continues to evolve unevenly thanks to Omicron and unequal vaccination rates. Despite the challenges, however, the region's tourism industry remains optimistic about an eventual rebound.
Liz Ortiguera, CEO of Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) since June 2021, told Skift that expediting the recovery
