PATA introduces youth component of food waste campaign, “BUFFET for Youth”

Thursday, March 15, 2018

The Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) is pleased to announce the launch of the “BUFFET for Youth”. The announcement was made yesterday by PATA Young Tourism Professional (YTP) Ambassador, Ms JC Wong, and PATA Sustainability and Social Responsibility Associate, Ms. Veronika Forstmeier, at the Asia Pacific Youth & Sustainable Tourism Workshop held today at the UN Building in Bangkok, Thailand.

The “BUFFET for Youth” is a challenge targeted at the next generation of tourism leaders that builds on the BUFFET Initiative – a PATA food waste campaign, and is open to PATA YTP student members, PATA Student Chapter members and students enrolled in an educational institution that is a PATA International member. The challenge is focused on the crossroads of where young tourism students and the issue of food waste meet to create a future of sustainable production and consumption.

PATA CEO Dr. Mario Hardy said that it was quite fitting for their brand to launch the challenge in the context of yesterday’s workshop, which aimed to empower the next generation of leaders in tourism and hospitality. By giving them the resources, confidence, and experience in the subject of food waste reduction and prevention, they are instilling the value of food and providing the appropriate tools that can help make an immediate and tangible impact in their industry and region, he added.

As part of the challenge, participants will be asked to develop and eventually implement food waste reduction solutions on their campuses. The winning team will be invited to attend PATA Travel Mart 2018 in Langkawi, Malaysia and present their case study during the PATA Youth Symposium. The winning case study will also be published in a PATA report, and showcased on the PATA sustainability website, sustain.PATA.org, for six months. Furthermore, the winning team will receive a blog post on sustain.pata.org and garner global media exposure via PATA’s far-reaching communications channels. All winning team members will receive free PATA YTP Student Membership for one year.

The Asia Pacific Youth & Sustainable Tourism Workshop was supported by the Global Peace Foundationand the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP). Under the theme ‘Setting the Stage for Peace’, the half-day workshop took place in conjunction with the Global Peace Youth Exchange Thailand 2018. As sustainable tourism is a tool for peace and a huge driver in achieving the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the event aimed to empower the next generation of leaders in the travel and tourism industry.

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