20 May 2026
The two most insightful questions posed at the PATA Annual Summit
Pohang, Korea — Like all travel industry events, the PATA Annual Summit in Gyeongju and Pohand between 11-14 May featured multiple presentations by “visionary thought leaders” about the global industry situation, forecasts, trends and opportunities. The most thought-provoking insights, however, came from the responses to two bottom-line questions that went to the heart of everything Travel & Tourism holds dear.
Opening on the morning of 11 May 2026, the Youth Symposium was the first of multiple events at the Summit, with about 120 students of tourism from universities in Korea, Hong Kong, China and Thailand. Right after the opening speeches, Nick Chun, Manager-Membership & Youth Programme, PATA, cut to the chase by asking them:
1) In one word, how do you feel about the future of tourism?
2) How prepared do you feel for your career?
The image below shows the Slido word-cloud answers to the first question. Of the 79 responses, 13 voiced frank and honest concerns, using words like “lost cause,” “uncertain”, “endangered” and “difficult”.
The image below shows the word-cloud answer to the second question.
A huge majority of the 91 respondents said they are “Not At All Prepared” or only “Somewhat Prepared” for a career in tourism.
Weighed against the theme of the 2026 PATA summit, “Navigating Towards a Resilient Future,” the responses clearly show that a significant number of Young People have very definite levels of concern about whether tourism has a future at all. The responses also raise some serious questions for our “visionary thought-leaders”:
1) Why are the students so concerned? Why do so many feel ill-prepared?
2) Are universities and training institutes aware of these concerns?
3) If so, what are they doing about it?
As the main Master of Ceremonies, Mr Chun referred a number of times to these concerns, indicating an agreement that the young generation’s future is very much at stake. He himself joined PATA as an intern in 2022 and has now risen to his current position. This is the first time he was participating in a PATA event in his own home country. He encouraged the young people to speak up and not just be passive listeners.
At one stage, he asked for a show of hands: Who plans to stay in tourism after they graduate? Much to his shock, only three hands went up. Attributing that possibly to the question not being clearly understood, he flipped it: Who DOES NOT want to stay in tourism after they graduate? Now, only two hands went up. Upon which, a relieved Mr Chun commented, “Ok, I will take that to mean most of you will stay in tourism.”
The PATA Youth Symposiums were launched as Youth Forums in 1994 by the late Indonesian Minister of Tourism Joop Ave, also a PATA Chairman (then known as President), a passionate believer in building up the power of the Young Generation and giving them a well-deserved voice. Over the years, the symposiums have nearly always delivered sunny-side-up perspectives in order to keep the young people motivated and inspired.
This year was no different. The Symposium’s agenda and speakers were rife with the usual rah-rah cliches about “the future” alongside buzzwords such as resilience, sustainability, etc. This, inspite of the fact that “Navigating Towards a Resilient Future” through the raging storms is well nigh impossible.
Performing what he said was his second-last official duty before the end of his four-year term, former PATA Chairman Peter Semone said the students had picked the right industry to work in. He advised them not to get into tourism if they seek material wealth. Rather, he told them to focus on the richness of their experiences, the places they will visit and the people they will meet.
Describing “sustainability” as an overused term that has been talked about since the 1991 PATA conference in Bali, he suggested the Young Generation had a great opportunity to “re-create and re-imagine the future development of tourism”. AI can answer all their questions, he said, “but you have to still be able to think. AI can never take away the human impact.”
He invited them to enjoy their career in tourism, defining “life” as being akin to a roll of toilet paper — the first half would take time to go through but the second half would go extra fast.
Here are a few selected slides from some of the other speakers.
Sharzede Datu Haji Salleh Askor, CEO, Sarawak Tourism Board
Jules Shin, Area Manager for South Korea and New Zealand, Booking.com.
Dr Bella Vongvisitsin, Assistant Prof (Hospitality and Tourism Management), HK Metropolitan University
Ms Jennifer Chun, Director of Tourism Research, Hawaii Tourism Authority, talked about the role of data and statistics in monitoring visitor flows, especially at popular destinations. She sympathised with local people in destinations such as Hawaii who felt that there were far too many visitors, but said it was not a case of “overtourism but under-management”. A classic quote: “When data smells like sour milk, make sure you don’t use it.”
Jessie McComb, Senior Tourism Industry Specialist, Asian Development Bank (ADB), asked the students if they had personally seen litter or trash on a beach, or witnessed despoliation of coral reefs. Nearly everyone said yes. Then she asked how many had actually participated in beach clean-up campaigns or coral reef protection activities. Barely a few hands went up. She said it was clear that “We are all aware of the problems but not participating in the solution.”
Ben-Jie Lim, Chief People & Partnerships Officer, AirAsia MOVE, said airlines such as AirAsia which rely entirely on volume of people movements are now better understanding how they get impacted by external shocks and how they need to transform their businesses to respond accordingly. He said they are moving away from just apps and websites as booking engines and more towards inspiring people to travel and how to embed that into the booking experience and marketing programmers. Asked what criteria AirAsia looks for when hiring people, he said, “Curiosity and humility.”
Well aware of its importance, I was the only travel industry media to cover the Youth Symposium in its entirety. Here are three key takeaways, evaluated against the backdrop of the prevailing operating environment, PATA’s 75th anniversary and the summit’s theme, “Navigating Towards a Resilient Future.”
1) The Symposium needs to be totally revamped. In terms of content, it has run its course. As the “reality check” responses to the opening questions showed, young people know well that their future job prospects are not good in the midst of today’s stormy weather. Trotting out all the usual cliches about resilience, sustainability, AI, etc are irrelevant, and raise even more questions about PATA’s relevance. There is much too much mind-numbing talk about the future, and not enough about the mistakes and failures of the past.
2) There is a lot of talk about “responsible tourism.” There is a greater need for “responsible leaders.” If today’s operating environment is a mess, have leaders fulfilled their responsibilities to the young generations? Have they created a safe, peaceful, secure future? Clearly not. I was amused to watch the former Chairman Peter Semone, Vice Chairman Mrs Ben Montgomery and a few other PATA Executive Board leaving the hall right after the opening remarks. Maybe if they had stayed, they would have learnt something.
3) Young people need to become activists and start demanding accountability from their leaders. They need to move away from being passive listeners. If they feel their future is at stake, they should tell the industry leaders in no uncertain terms that they consider it a betrayal of their trust, faith and confidence, and demand remedial action.