The Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) and Visa have announced a partnership to extend the Tourism Destination Resilience (TDR) Programme, aimed at promoting a more resilient and sustainable tourism industry. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the need for destinations to be prepared for challenges and potential crises and knows how to adapt to changes. The

The Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) and Visa have announced a partnership to extend the Tourism Destination Resilience (TDR) Programme, aimed at promoting a more resilient and sustainable tourism industry. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the need for destinations to be prepared for challenges and potential crises and knows how to adapt to changes.

The partnership will focus on building the capacity of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and informal workers in the travel and tourism industry. Two new online learning modules will be produced to improve financial literacy and digital competency and cybersecurity, in addition to the existing TDR Course. The courses will be available in six languages: English, Vietnamese, Bahasa Indonesia, Khmer, Thai, and Mandarin Chinese.

In-person training for SMEs will take place in Cambodia, Indonesia, Vietnam, and the Philippines in the second half of the year. SMEs make up 80% of all tourism businesses, and PATA Chair Peter Semone emphasized the need for SMEs to build resilience and adapt to the new era of tourism.

The collaboration will also focus on empowering informal workers in the industry with digital and financial skills, health and safety, marketing and communication, and other topics identified during a needs analysis. Informal workers make up a majority of tourism employment, and they often lack formal government registration, leading to a lack of social protection and employment benefits in times of crisis.

Patsian Low, Vice President of Inclusive Impact & Sustainability for Asia Pacific at Visa, expressed pride in providing digital literacy and financial education to SMEs and informal workers, which are the backbone of the tourism industry in the region. The partnership aims to help enable individuals, businesses, and economies to thrive in the post-COVID-19 world.

PATA’s Sustainability and Social Responsibility Programme Head, Pavnesh Kumar, believes that the partnership will expand the impacts of Tourism Destination Resilience within destinations and target the two groups that most often lack support in the industry.

The partnership between PATA and Visa will allow for the expansion of TDR initiatives and provide support to SMEs and informal workers. More information on the new initiatives will be announced soon, and queries can be directed to ssr@PATA.org.

Written by: Supaporn  Pholrach (Joom)

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