PATA: Is change a leap too far?
TTR Weekly in Bangkok carriers an interesting item on Pacific Asia Travel Association’s CEO, Greg Duffell, who jumped off the top of Macau’s telecommunications tower last week, attached to a bungee cord.
Duffell was giving PATA board members a not too subtle message for the future, TTR reported.
“They have three options,” he told them a board meeting last Sunday.
“You are on the ledge. You can freeze and do nothing, step back, or leap into the future.”
Duffell’s comments came just hours after submitting his resignation to the executive board exactly half way through his three-year contract.
In a short telephone statement to TTR Weekly, Mr Duffell said he wanted to return to the cut-and-thrust of commercial enterprise having cleaned up house for PATA in what he described as a thankless task.
“I have never bungee jumped in my life and the 233 metre jump from Macau Tower is probably the highest in the world.
"But I did it to illustrate that if PATA fails to make the leap to the future, hesitates or decides to roll back the pages to its previous management style it will be difficult to survive in a meaningful way for members.”
TTR Weekly said within hours of his resignation, executive board members, Bill Calderwell and Richard Beere, with the help of recently appointed communications director, Punam Mohandas, engineered a press release that failed to state that the CEO had actually resigned.
“It certainly flattered Mr Duffell, a reliable source told TTR, “but it was viewed by everyone, including PATA staff, as a diabolical example of spin, inaccuracies, double talk designed by the trio to deliberately confuse members.”
Ian Jarrett
Vegas’s Billion-Dollar Secrets – What They Don’t Want Tourists to Know
Visit Florida’s New CEO Bryan Griffin Shares His Vision for State Tourism with Graham
Chicago’s Tourism Renaissance: Graham Interviews Kristin Reynolds of Choose Chicago
Graham Talks with Cassandra McCauley of MMGY NextFactor About the Latest Industry Research
Destination International’s Andreas Weissenborn: Research, Advocacy, and Destination Impact
Graham and Don Welsh Discuss the Success of Destinations International’s Annual Conference
Graham and CEO Andre Kiwitz on Ventura Travel’s UK Move and Recruitment for the Role
Brett Laiken and Graham Discuss Florida’s Tourism Momentum and Global Appeal
Graham and Elliot Ferguson on Positioning DC as a Cultural and Inclusive Global Destination
Graham Talks to Fraser Last About His England-to-Ireland Trek for Mental Health Awareness
Kathy Nelson Tells Graham About the Honour of Hosting the World Cup and Kansas City’s Future
Graham McKenzie on Sir Richie Richardson’s Dual Passion for Golf and His Homeland, Antigua
ADS PRO 
Global tourism exceeds 1.5 billion travelers announces UN-Tourism
Qatar Airways offers reduced timetable to over 60 destinations
WTTC global tourism reached record economic impact of 11 trillion in 2025
Hands In, UATP join forces for airline multi-card payments
Overseas travelers to the United States declined by 2.5% in 2025