WORLD ECOTOURISM CONFERENCE 2009

Programme

 

Date		Time	PRELIMINARY PROGRAMME	VENUE
13th July 2009 Monday	Sponsors		BOOTH SET-UP FOR EXHIBITION
14th July 2009 Tuesday			ARRIVAL OF DELEGATES Meet & Greet and Airport Transfers for Delegates	Watty International Airport
		09.00 – 17.00	COMPLIMENTARY TOURS Orchid Trek tour at Phou Khao Kway Protected Area near Vientiane Capital.
		14.00 – 17.00	COMPLIMENTARY TOURS Half day historical and cultural sites with refreshments (Departure at 1400 hrs)
DAY 1 15th July 2009 Wednesday		08.00 – 08.15	OPENING CEREMONY Arrival of Invited Distinguished Guests and Delegates	Don Chan Palace Hotel Grand Ballroom
		08.25 - 08.25	Arrival of H.E. Mr. Bouasone Bouphavanh, The Prime Minister of Lao PDR
		08.25 - 08.30	Rendition of Welcome Song - Laos, Jewel of the Mekong	Don Chan Palace Hotel Grand Ballroom
		08.30 – 08.35	Introduction of Guests of Honor and objectives of Conference
		08.35 - 09.05	Opening Speech by H.E. Mr. Bouasone Bouphavanh, The Prime Minister of Lao PDR
		09.05 – 9.30	Opening Remarks - H.E. Dr Taleb Rifai, Secretary-General, United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO)	Don Chan Palace Hotel Grand Ballroom
		09.30 - 09.35	Opening of WEC2009 Conference and Exhibition	Don Chan Palace Hotel Grand Ballroom
		09.35 – 09.45	Group Photo
		09.45 – 10.15	H.E. Mr. Bouasone Bouphavanh, The Prime Minister and Invited Guests tour of International Green Tourism Exhibition Area Press Conference	Convention Centre Level 1 & 2
		10.15 – 11.30	Coffee Break Private-Public Sector Meetings (For delegates)	Dok Champa Function Room
		11.30 – 12.45	Malaysia Hosted International Buffet Lunch Sabah Cultural Troupe Performance	Riverland Restaurant & Eight Treasures Chinese Restaurant
		12.50 - 13.30	KEYNOTE ADDRESSES   Keynote Speakers Mr Eugenio Yunis Director, Programme & Coordination, UNWTO	Don Chan Palace Hotel Grand Ballroom
	Air ticket sponsored by:	13.35 - 14.15	Prof Dr Trevor Sofield Foundation Professor and Chair, Tourism Programme University of Tasmania.
		14.20 - 15.00	Mr Jose Ma Lorenzo (Lory) Tan, Vice-President, WWF, Philippines
		15.05 - 15.45	Panel Discussion Moderator: Mr Shahram Saber
		15.45 – 16.15	Tea Break	Convention Centre Foyer
		15.45 – 18.30	Free for leisure
		18.30 – 21.30	LNTA Welcome Gala Dinner Lao Cultural Troupe Performances Sabah Cultural Troupe Performances	Don Chan Palace Hotel Grand Ballroom
DAY 2 16th July 2009 Thursday	Air ticket sponsored by:		SESSION 1 - Sustainable Tourism & Roadmaps: Sustainable Ecotourism embraces all segments of the industry with guidelines and criteria that seek to reduce environmental impacts, particularly the use of non-renewable resources, using measurable benchmarks, and to improve tourism’s contribution to sustainable development and environmental conservation. Where are we now and where are we heading?	Don Chan Palace Hotel Grand Ballroom
			Speakers/Panelists
		08.30 - 08.50	Professor Dr Zadok S Lempert Sustainability, Tourism & Social Development Management Specialist
		08.50 - 09.10	YM Datuk Seri Tengku Zainal Adlin Chairman, Sabah Tourism Board, Malaysia
		09.10 - 09.30	Mr Tony Charters Principal, Tony Charters Associates, Australia and Deputy President, The International Ecotourism Society, Washington DC
		09.30 - 09.50	Mr Les Clark Director, Tourism Resource Consultants Ltd, New Zealand
		09.50 - 10.10	Panel Discussion Moderator : Prof Francesco Adamo
		10.10 – 10.30	Coffee Break	Convention Centre Foyer
			SESSION 2 - Market Development & Resilience: Developing regional and domestic markets for ecotourism, learning from the leaders in destination positioning, e-marketing and the evaluation of green tourism economies in developing countries, exploring the successful branding of destinations with world heritage status and of commercial companies acquiring green certification; and analyzing how to protect the brand when crisis strikes.	Don Chan Palace Hotel Grand Ballroom
		10.30 - 10.50	Speakers/Panelists Dr Mark Hampton * Director - Centre of Tourism in Islands and Coastal Areas (CENTICA) Kent Business School, University of Kent at Medway, United Kingdom
		10.50 - 11.10	Dr Peter Richter Principal Advisor/Project Manager, German Technical Cooperation (GTZ)
		11.10 - 11.30	Dato Amiruddin Abu Acting Director-General, Tourism Malaysia, Malaysia
		11.30 - 11.50	Mr Shahram Saber Director for Asia Pacific, PATA & former Marketing Manager , PADI Australia
		11.50 - 12.10	Panel Discussion Moderator : Mrs Chinda Tejavvanija Chang
		12.10 – 13.10	Buffet Lunch sponsored by India Tourism
			SESSION 3 - Local Community Challenges & Solutions: Reduce tourism’s negative impacts and to increase the positive contribution of tourism business and consumption activity to local sustainable development. Solutions to adverse tourism impacts are to be found in the shared interest of local communities, tourism businesses, and tourism consumers to maintain the natural wealth and social heritage of the tourist destination.	Don Chan Palace Hotel Grand Ballroom
		13.10 - 13.30	Speakers/Panelists H.E. Mr Sultan Ahmed, Minister of Tourism, India
		13.30 - 13.50	Prof Dr Amran Hamzah Dept. of Urban and Regional Planning Faculty of Built Environment Universiti Teknologi Malaysia
		13.50 - 14.10	Mr Masaru Takayama Executive Director, Japan Ecolodge Association, Japan
		14.10 - 14.30	Mr Rabi Jung Panday Director, Nepalese Tourism Research and Service Center P. Ltd, Kathmandu, Nepal & former Head of TRPAP, Nepal
		14.30 - 14.50	Ms Tara Gujadhur Network Leader, Pro-Poor Sustainable Tourism, SNV Asia, Lao PDR
		14.50 - 15.10	Panel Discussion Moderator : Prof Eric Laws
		15.10 – 15.50	Break	Convention Centre Foyer
			SESSION 4 - Public & Private Sector Partnerships: Successful recipes for collaborating in tourism growth regions and working with the industry, sharing resources, soliciting public funding plus the way forward for destinations enhancing tourism competitiveness through cooperation as well as building sustainable success through partnerships.   Speakers/Panelists	Don Chan Palace Hotel Grand Ballroom
		15.50 - 16.10	Mr Albert Teo, Managing Director, Borneo Eco Tours & BEST, Malaysia
		16.10 - 16.30	Mr Steven Schipani Senior Advisor, Lao National Tourism Administration, Lao PDR
		16.30 - 16.50	Dr Sasithara Pichaichannarong Permanent Secretary General, Ministry of Sports & Tourism, Thailand
		16.50 - 17.10	Panel Discussion Moderator : Prof Stephen Lynch
		17.10 - 19.30	Free for own leisure & networking
			TECHNICAL WORKSHOPS Presenters	To be advised
		19.30 - 19.55	Dr Vic Nair Head Centre for Research & Development, Taylor’s University College, Malaysia
		19.55 - 20.20	Mr Ary Suhandi Executive Director, Indonesia Ecotourism Network, Indonesia
		20.20 - 21.45	Mr Bob Palege Tour Consultant, Papua, Indonesia
		21.45 - 22.10	Dr Awang Noor Abd. Ghani Dean Faculty of Forestry Universiti Putra Malaysia
		22.10 - 22.30	Light Supper sponsored by DISCOVERYMICE
DAY 3 17th July 2009 Friday		08.30 – 10.30	Presentation by Rapporteur, Mr Peter Semone - Conclusions of WEC2009 Q & A, Discussions and Voting. Tabling of Vientiane Declaration for WEC2009	Don Chan Palace Hotel Grand Ballroom
		10.30 – 10.50	Coffee Break	Convention Centre Foyer
		10.50 – 11.10	Presentation of Mementoes
		11.10 – 11.30	Conference Closing Ceremony Speech by H.E. Mr Somphong Mongkhonvilay, Minister, Chairman of Lao National Tourism Administration	Don Chan Palace Hotel Grand Ballroom
		11.30 – 12.45	Lunch
			SPECIAL SESSION - Development & Marketing of the Greater Mekong Sub-region : Provide industry leaders with a strategic framework to plan for the sub-region and to enable them to understand and respond to the strategic trends and developments.   Speakers/Panelists	Don Chan Palace Hotel Grand Ballroom
		12.45 - 13.05	Mr Mason Florence Executive Director, Mekong Tourism, Bangkok, Thailand
		13.05 - 13.25	Mr Reinhard Hohler Tour Director and Media Travel Consultant, Thailand
		13.25 - 13.45	Mr Sounh Manivong Director-General, Lao National Tourism Administration, Lao PDR
		13.45 - 14.05	Mr Douglas Hainsworth Consultant for GTZ, Vietnam and ex-Senior Advisor, SNV
		14.05 - 14.30	Panel Discussion: Moderator:
		14.30 – 15.00	Tea Break	Convention Centre Foyer
		15.00 – 16.00	APES INCEPTION MEETING Special Meeting to form Asia Pacific Ecotourism Society (APES) APES is a regional initiative to The targeted output of the Meeting is to create a strong coalition and a common platform where Asia Pacific tourism industry players in the public and private sectors adopt a collaborative and resilient stand. One of the key objectives is to develop regional markets for ecotourism in Asia Pacific, in response to long haul carbon footprint concerns and the economic downturn in traditional eco-tourist markets in the West.   Chairman:	To be advised
			Free for leisure
DAY 4 18th July 2009 Saturday		06.30 – 09.30	MINI MARATHON (5km from That Luang to Don Chan Palace Hotel) This is a marathon for locals in celebration of the World Ecotourism Conference 2009. Participants can register and join in the fun marathon together with the locals.	That Luang to Don Chan Palace Hotel
		09.00 – 17.00	TECHNICAL TOURS (Supported by Lao Association of Travel Agents) 1) Half day historical and cultural sites with refreshments (Departure at 0900hrs & 1400 hrs) 2) Orchid Trek tour at Phou Khao Kway Protected Area near Vientiane Capital.
		09:00 -18:00	INTERNATIONAL GREEN TOURISM EXHIBITION (Open to Public) Exhibition opens to general public which includes concerts, games, fashion show and prize give-aways.	Convention Centre Level 1 & 2

Note: The Programme above is subject to change if deemed to be in the best interest of the Conference. Invited speakers are subject to receipt of acceptance and confirmation by the speakers.

WEC2009 Secretariat Office Telephone Contacts in Vientiane

+856-20-6228838 /+856-20-6228808