The conference, called "Asia-Pacific E-Tourism for Growth: Matching market efficiency and social inclusion," on March 13-14, at Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysian Borneo, will be the first Asia-Pacific gathering on the topic. UNCTAD Secretary-General Supachai Panitchpakdi and UNESCAP Executive Secretary Kim Hak-Su will be attending the two-day meeting together with Ministers of Tourism and Information Technology, Government officials and national, regional and international tourism experts.
UNCTAD Secretary-General Dr. Supachai Panitchpakdi will open the Conference and will present UNCTAD e-tourism partnerships at a ceremony on the morning of 14 March.
The Conference will provide a forum for exploring the use of ICT tools to promote tourism and for exchanging experiences and best practices in this area. It will also be a significant event to advocate e-tourism in Asia-Pacific.
Tourism being an information intensive sector, will benefit from the use of ICT as a tool to empower the local stakeholders, such as hotels, restaurants, travel agencies, banks etc. to promote themselves on the market and target tourists directly. This will increase the chances of a "localization" of earnings derived from tourism.
The conference will focus on information and communication technology (ICT) and its impact and role in the development of the tourism sector, including management of information and networking, "e-payments" and "e-branding"; ICT and sustainable tourism; using ICT to build partnerships between small- and mid-sized tourism firms; and tourism e-marketing.
Overall, some 200 participants are expected, representing ministries of tourism, national and local tourism boards, tour operators, hotels, transport companies, and other firms active in the tourism sector. Among the guest speakers will be representatives of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), the Beijing Organizing Committee of the XXIX Olympic Games, Microsoft, Visa International, the Asian Development Bank, the Tourism Authority of Thailand, the Vietnam National Tourism Administration, Telecom Malaysia, the Ministry of Tourism of Quebec (Canada), and the University of Quebec.
The conference has been jointly organized by UNCTAD, the Ministry of Tourism of Malaysia, and the Sabah Tourism Board, with the assistance of the Asia-Pacific Sustainable Development Center (APSDEC) and Carlota´s Borneo Holidays. It also has received the support of the Malaysian Ministry of Home Affairs.
