Nusa Dua – Since January 2024, the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) has rebranded to UN Tourism as a form of a new era in global tourism. This positive trend increasingly shows UN Tourism’s role as a global leader in tourism development, as well as encouraging social and economic change to ensure people and planet are a priority with a new tagline, namely “Bringing the world closer”. One of the efforts made after this rebranding was the holding of an international conference entitled The 2nd Regional Conference on the Empowerment of Women in Tourism in Asia & the Pacific. This international conference which raised the theme of women’s empowerment appointed Indonesia, especially Bali, to host the event and collaborated with the Bali Tourism Polytechnic as a supporter of this activity.
The 2nd Regional Conference on the Empowerment of Women in Tourism in Asia & the Pacific will be held for three days, namely 2 – 4 May 2024 at the Bali International Convention Center (BICC), Bali. The main topics at this international conference include discussing the role of women in promoting sustainable tourism; examine education and training that impact women’s participation in the tourism sector; and addressing safety concerns and creating more accessible travel opportunities for women. All the speakers are women who work in the tourism sector, including Vice Provost Duy Tan University Vietnam Dr. Lai Mun Yee, Lecturer at Sunway University Kuala Lumpur, Dr. Lai Mun Yee; Grab Indonesia Country Managing Director, Neneng Goenadi; Director of Macao Government Tourism Office Macao China, Maria Helena De Senna Fernandes; Founder and Director of the Ubud Food Festival and Ubud Writers & Readers Festival Indonesia, Janet DeNeefe; Co-founder, World Women Tourism Singapore, Nisha Abu Bakar, Founder of Climate Conscious Travel India, Shivya Nath and other speakers who are active in voicing women’s empowerment in the tourism sector. No less proud, the Bali Tourism Politkenik lecturer was also one of the speakers, namely Dr. Putu Diah Sastri Pitanatri, S.ST.Par., M.Par. which discusses the role of Balinese women in the tourism sector.
Bali Tourism Polytechnic as one of the universities under the auspices of the Indonesian Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy also supports this activity by being the organizing team and also involving 50 students as Liaison Officers (LO). Bali Poltekpar students had previously been given special training by Super Mentor, Menparekraf, Sandiaga Salahuddin Uno. The LOs are on duty starting from the arrival of participants, assisting participants with their needs at the hotel and during the event to assisting participants in returning home. This three-day activity gave the participants a deep impression of the Bali Poltekpar LO. One of them was Prachi Thakur, Academic at Sunway University/Technical Coordinator UNTWO, who expressed her appreciation to the LO who had served to accompany her who had served carefully and informatively. Apart from the main event, participants were also offered other interesting activities (side events) including planting baby mangroves and visiting the Arma Museum.
