The Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) has announced the resignation of Liz Ortiguera as its Chief Executive Officer. Ortiguera took the reigns in May, 2021, succeeding Dr. Mario Hardy, and was the first Asian female CEO in the organization’s 72-history.

Upon the notification, PATA Vice Chair Benjamin Liao said, “Liz served PATA with distinction… On behalf of PATA, I would like to thank her for her leadership of the Association during a difficult period for the industry.”

Liao lauded Ortiguera’s “many accomplishments” during her tenure, including new agreements with the Singapore Tourism Board, the Saudi Tourism Authority and Trip.com, as well as the expanded partnerships with Visa, MasterCard, and Airbnb.

New projects included PATA’s first Annual Summit in the Middle East, the PATA-Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) APAC Travel Summit, PATA-World Bank Government Recovery Insights Forum Series, the Tourism Destination Resilience Program launch, and the ongoing Weekly Asia-Pacific Destination Recovery Dashboard.

Commenting on her tenure at PATA, Ortiguera said, “I am confident that PATA, with its diverse member base of industry leaders, can continue to support and lead our industry’s recovery and growth. PATA is even more critical as a business community today to support new partnerships, innovation, and the adoption of sustainable business practices.”

In response to the resignations, PATA Chair Peter Semone says its executive board has established five Expert Task Forces to review critical elements of the association’s development strategy, including Brand and Voice, Events, Membership Engagement, Organizational Design and Digital Readiness.

Recommendations of the ETFs will help define PATA’s new direction strategically and operationally, he said.