A third Asia Tourism Property & Attraction Summit (ATPAS) is planned for Shanghai on May 31 and June 1 – timed to coincide with Expo 2010.
Governments across the Asia Pacific region, including China, Singapore, Korea, Vietnam, Thailand, Australia and India are seeking investment in attractions to promote tourism and property development, and many world- class mega projects are under planning or under construction.
The Global Leaders Institute plans to unite investors, developers and attractions operators at ATPAS, which will be held at the Shanghai Marriott Hongqiao hotel.
On track to become the world’s top destination by 2010, China continues to grow at a rapid pace. Already underway are several world-class theme parks, luxury resorts and eco areas, as well as numerous hotels, timeshare properties, apartment and villas. The model of leisure as an anchor and driver for real estate development remains popular.
As well as hosting the mega Expo event, which is forecast to attract 70 million people in just six months, Shanghai is also home to the new Happy Valley theme park, opened last summer in Sheshan. In November, Walt Disney Parks & Resorts finally made public its plans to build a Disneyland park in the Pudong district, placing even greater tourism focus on the city in the years to come.
The 2010 ATPAS programme kicks off on Monday, May 31, with an opening address including a contribution from the Shanghai World Expo Bureau. Also planned throughout the day are sessions on public-private partnerships, sustainable development, masterplanning, attraction positioning, Chongming tourism island and forecasts for Chinese industry in the next five to 10 years.
On Tuesday there will be two seminar tracks running throughout the day. Of interest to readers of this publication will be the session on successful theme park operation, delivered by representatives from Universal Parks & resorts (Asia) and Essel World in India. Also promised are sessions on planning world class attractions, the importance of hotel brands, multimedia technologies, sports tourism, property investment and government relations. Delegates will also be presented with details of a number of “must see” tourism property projects.
Speakers and VIP guests confirmed for the summit at the time of writing included Jun Yao from OCT Holdings, Peter Wong of Universal Parks & Resorts, Li Ming of Fantawild, Mark Trevor Manteit from Phillip Island Nature Parks, Shirish Deshpande of Essel World, Zhenxuan Fei from the Shanghai Municipal Tourism Trade Association, Fei Shen of the National Real Estate Association and Asia-pacific Tourism organization, senior tourism representatives from China, Thailand, Malayasia and Indonesia. Also due to participate are several senior hotel group executives.
The full speaker programme, together with registration details and fees, can be found at www.tourism-attraction.com Park World is an official media partner.
