CHIANG MAI, 24 August 2018: A leading light of the Association of Thai Travel Agents, Mingkwan Metmowlee, stepped up to assume the role of president of the Federation of ASEAN Travel Associations earlier this month.
Last January, she was appointed deputy president of FATA at the association’s annual general meeting, but during an extraordinary general meeting and board meeting held in Chiang Mai, earlier this month, she was asked to take over the presidency.
She replaced Datuk Hamzah Rahmat, who has stepped down from the FATA presidency after leading the association since 2017.
The board confirmed Hamzah would now serve FATA as its executive director.
Minkwan, who is a member of the Association of Thai Travel Agents’ board, will hold the FATA presidency until FATA’s AGM during the ASEAN Tourism Forum in January 2019 hosted by Vietnam in Halong Bay.
It is understood that she will be endorsed by the board for a full-year term starting January 2019.
In a recent Facebook post Mingkwan said: “It is an honour to serve the ASEAN tourism industry. I will focus on marketing in ASEAN, as well working to uphold the ethics of the tour and travel business and strive towards professionalism.”
FATA is an umbrella organisation representing 11 travel agency related associations in the ASEAN region. All told it represents the business interests of around 7,000 travel agents across the region.
Its current core objective is to encourage country travel agency associations to support the 2025 vision of the ASEAN Tourism Strategic Plan.
“That involves striving for quality tourism and achieving responsible, sustainable and balanced tourism development to contribute to the well being of the ASEAN people,” Mingkwan explained.
The board changes were made on the sidelines of the first ever FATA Convention 2018, hosted in Chiang Mai, earlier this month. It featured industry briefings with Mingkwan leading off with a presentation on the cruise industry and its potential in ASEAN.
Table-top sales sessions were held between travel content providers from Chiang Mai and tour operator delegates attending from all 10-member countries of ASEAN. Around 200 companies attended the convention. FATA will host the second edition in Kuala Lumpur in in mid-2019.
