NY PATA Holiday Party

An Evening of Merrymaking

Tuesday, December 20th, 2022

5:30 pm – 8:30 pm

House of Joy

28 Pell Street

New York, NY 10013

M103 bus | Parking garage nearby

Family-Style 10-course Dinner

Wine and Prosecco

Entertainment

Lucky Draw

Members and Family

$65 per person

Save Your Seat NOW...Limited Seats 

Please bring a wrapped gift to play Secret Santa

Secret Santa Gift limit of $15

Payment by check must be received by 12/15/2022. Please send check to:

NY PATA | c/o Irene Sino, Treasurer | 58 W 58th Street, Apt 6E | New York, NY 10019-2507

No walk-ins. Reservation is required with QR code.



Dear PATA Members and Industry Colleagues,

This past quarter has just flown by. One industry colleague mentioned to me, “It feels as if twelve months of events were just crammed into six months here in APAC". As predicted (or in part driven) by one tourism minister, "Asia-Pacific will have an event-lead recovery".

The importance of meeting face to face to enable and fuel business development is driving a large part of the revenge travel we're seeing now. As one five-star hotelier mentioned to me recently in Manila, "We've never seen so many CEOs come through at once before". With recent events including WTM, CAPA, HICAP, WTTC and our own Annual Summit in Ras Al Khaimah - people had a wonderful chance to reconnect after the long hiatus or in many of my instances (being new to the association world) finally had the chance meet for the first time IRL (in real life) after having purely Zoom introductions earlier. I believe the ability to meet face to face is more valued and treasured now. It's what fuels commerce, trusted business relationships and significant partnerships. 

Six years ago, during a Stanford Executive Program, one of their esteemed professors in marketing and innovation, made a provocative declaration to my class consisting of 80 senior executives from 62 destinations from across multiple industries (with a high proportion in tech). The professor declared "The future of business travel is dead". His rationale being that with the enablement of video meetings and augmented reality (AR), he stated that the technology at that time already existed to meet someone virtually and even simulate shaking their hand. Sitting in a class in Palo Alto with a significant proportion of Silicon Valley tech executives, I anticipated that the only two travel executives in the room (me coming from Amex GBT and the other representing United Airlines) would be completely outnumbered in confirming his sentiment. 

To my surprise, it was the tech executives who argued against his claim. Memorably, the general sentiment was that as good as technology was getting, it could still never truly replace the intangibles of meeting someone in person or visiting the site. Even if the tech could replicate the sentience of shaking someone's hand - there were a lot of intangibles that could not be replicated. They all advocated that the level of trust and partnership that can be built in person could not be simulated virtually. 

As one critical mass, culmination of the plethora of events in Asia-Pacific, we were fortunate to have Asia-Pacific take global center stage for 12 days of important summits: ASEAN in Sihanoukville, G20 in Bali, and APEC in Bangkok. While the other regions may have purely focused on the Biden - Xi Jinping dialogue or the Biden-Putin lack of dialogue, here in the region we also focused on the intra-regional initiatives forged including the APEC leaders’ declaration and New Indo-Pacific Economic Framework.

We're honored to have diplomat and geopolitical advisor Prof. Kishore Mahbubani as our keynote speaker to unpack some of what transpired at these key summits and their implications for the region's travel recovery. Join us for his keynote during our imminent inaugural APAC Travel Summit event collaboration with GBTA. The event will be hosted in Bangkok on December 8 and 9th at the newly opened QSNCC venue - location for the recent APEC summit. I look forward to seeing you there.

Best regards,

Liz

April 8, 2023 marks the fiftieth anniversary of the death of the Spanish artist Pablo Picasso and thus places the year under the sign of the celebration of his work and his artistic legacy in France, Spain and internationally.

Supported by renowned cultural institutions in Europe and the United States, the program of the 1973-2023 Picasso Celebration will be structured around some fifty exhibitions and events that, taken together, trace a historiographical approach to Picasso's work.

The Picasso Celebration 1973-2023 aims to highlight the career of an essentially European artist who, with a deep knowledge of the heritage and principles of tradition, an understanding of classicism as an ethical value, and the most modern challenges of art, projected universal symbols such as Guernica, today a collective emblem of the defense of human rights, all over the world.

In Europe and the United States, the exhibitions and associated programs of the 1973-2023 Picasso Celebration will highlight the artist's influence throughout the 20th century and his continued reference for 21st-century artists through a variety of approaches. The many activities that will be held in Spain during the year 2023 to commemorate Picasso was showcased at the Manhattan Club on October 6, 2022

The MSC Seascape arrived in New York on December 5th after a trans-Atlantic journey of 17 days from the Fincantieri shipyard in Italy, where it was built. During the ceremony, the Godmother to all MSC Cruise ships; Sophia Lauren blessed the ship while Alexa Aponte Vago performed the honors of breaking the champagne bottle against the hull, thereby christening the ship.

On Wednesday evening December 7th, MSC Cruises welcomed MSC Seascape to its innovative and sustainable fleet. The official naming ceremony took place at the Manhattan Cruise Terminal in New York City. Over 3,000 guests attended the star-studded event including VIPs, travel partners, global media, and top executives from the entire Cruise Division of the company and MSC Group.

A highlight of the maritime ceremony was a performance from international singer-songwriter Matteo Bocelli. The Grammy-Award-winning Italian singer performed “Happy Xmas (War is Over)” to get guests in the holiday spirit, along with a few other songs. Bocelli had recently performed at the naming ceremony for MSC World Europa last month in Doha, Qatar. Shortly after the ceremony, guests enjoyed a gourmet gala dinner, followed by a performance by international Grammy Award winner singer/songwriter Ne-Yo.

The vessel departed from New York on December 8th to Miami. It will begin sailing from Miami on December 11th and will offer two different 7-night itineraries for its sails to the Caribbean.

The MSC Seascape, at more than 170,412 gross tons is one of the largest cruise ships to dock in Manhattan. It has a capacity of 5,877 guests and is 1,112 feet long. The MSC Seascape features 11 dining venues along with 20 bars and lounges. The ship is also equipped with six swimming pools 1,772-foot-long promenades and 16 decks above the ocean. The ship also has water park attractions, a sports arena, interactive and virtual reality gaming, and a robotic arm roller coaster for recreation.

MSC Cruises will soon be able to call The Big Apple home in April of 2023 when New York City becomes the line’s newest U.S. homeport. The company is eager to homeport in NYC and can offer guests from across the country a more comprehensive range of North American itineraries.

A fair number of towers and skyscrapers have been built across Japan, mostly in the large cities. Erected as symbols of modernity, many of the towers function as television and radio broadcast towers. Furthermore, many feature observation decks with panoramic views from high up above the city, making them prime sightseeing spots. The following is a selection of some of the best towers and observatories found around the country:

Tokyo Tower

Modeled after the Eiffel Tower, the 333 meter high Tokyo Tower is actually 13 meters taller than its inspiration and an important symbol of Japan's postwar recovery into an economic power. The tower has two observation decks, a main observatory at 150 meters and a special observatory at 250 meters, both of which offer views as far away as the Tokyo Skytree and Mount Fuji on a good day. The lower floors house a wax museum, aquarium, arcade and souvenir shops.

Tokyo Skytree

Rising 634 meters above the city, the Tokyo Skytree is Japan's tallest tower and the second tallest structure in the world at the time of its completion. The Skytree is home to the two highest observation decks in Japan. The lower deck starts off at an impressive 350 meters above ground, while the upper deck is a staggering 450 meter high. At the base of the tower is a shopping mall, restaurants and an aquarium.

Goryokaku Tower

Located just outside the southern entrance to Fort Goryokaku is the 107 meter tall Goryokaku Tower, which offers visitors a bird's eye view of the massive, star shaped fortress below. The views are best around early May when the hundreds of cherry trees usually bloom all around the fortress's moats.

Only a Week Away!!



Thank you for your RSVPs. 

We look forward to seeing you.

NY PATA Board of Directors

Limited Availability. Reserve Your Seat NOW

https://newyorkpata.org

Contact: Joebert Opulencia 1-646-361-3777

Elizabeth Chin – ecitravel@aol.com

No walk-ins. Reservations are required with QR code.

New York PATA

Pacific Asia Travel Association

Technology | Relevance | Innovation | Resilience

Elizabeth Chin, Executive Director, PATA New York Chapter 

Email: newyorkpata@gmail.com | https://newyorkpata.org

2022-12-12 CC160