Martin Mouchenik

Martin-Mouchenik

Martin Mouchenik

Project Manager

What excites you about the Mekong Region?

The Mekong region holds a special place for me, I had the opportunity to travel and discover a part of its variety of human cultures and diverse landscapes. I met and created strong, lasting bonds with people who still count in my life. Moreover, the region offers many opportunities for positive change. With the region's rapid development and growth, I’m thrilled to witness the emergence of social, solidarity and environmental initiatives.

Tourism-hospitality represents a valuable tool and a powerful vector that has the capacity to promote and facilitate inclusive and sustainable practices. I’m enthusiastic about engaging with local stakeholders and agents of change, understanding their needs, and collaborating with them to create meaningful impacts. This fills me with motivation and optimism.

Tell us about your Background

From France with a dual cultural heritage, I studied anthropology. I pursued political sciences and social & solidarity economy, as I've always been fascinated by human interactions and wished to get involved in the solidarity sector. I’ve also been trained in operations to develop additional skills. I had the chance to work on different projects related to inclusion, emergency aid, and people empowerment.

Over the years, I've worked in both humanitarian and development fields, including in Asia and Africa. Throughout my way, I was drawn to projects and operations management, team training and capacity building. The ability to empower others has become a driving force. I found it relevant to mobilise partners and volunteers, knowing that together we could amplify our impact in the field.

How do you want to make an impact for the region?

My aim is to contribute to a positive transformation that benefits the local economy while preserving the environment. I aspire to collaborate with local initiatives and community-based organisations to foster responsible and inclusive practices. This is through the development of innovative solutions where the actors can share their knowledge and experiences. I believe we can foster a true ecosystem and community of change.

I'm particularly enthusiastic about promoting responsible and sustainable experiences. By encouraging travellers to get off the beaten track and to engage with local initiatives, we can generate positive impacts for businesses and communities. We can strengthen the abilities of the region's entrepreneurs and project holders to respond effectively to the most pressing social and environmental concerns.

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Sak Usakphea

Sak Usakphea

Sak Usakphea

Business Development Representative – Cambodia

What excites you about the Mekong Region?

I was born and raised next to the Mekong River in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. During my education and while working in the hospitality and tourism industry, I have experienced the different people in the region. The ways they live their lives, their cuisines, the different ways they communicate, and the way they enjoy having a fun and peaceful time when going to many amazing places. It is exciting that the Mekong Region is developing into a region that takes care of the environment. More and more Eco-friendly resorts, tourism communities, and experiences are being developed.  Visitors to the region should travel out of the tourism centres and visit the less travelled paths, for example, visit a community farm in the Kampong Cham province or take a night river cruise along the Mekong River and visit local markets, and purchase locally made handicrafts.

Tell us about your Background

I started my career in the hospitality industry in 2013 with a three-year Vocational Training Degree in Front Office management at the PSE's Hotel School in Phnom Penh, and I achieved a bachelor's degree in Hotel & Tourism Management in 2014. Afterwards, I worked in the front office and sales & marketing departments at the Raffles Hotel in Phnom Penh, at Hanchey Bamboo Resort located in Kampong Cham province, and at the Ibis Budget Phnom Penh Riverside Hotel. I am also happy to be a PSE school ambassador and Business Development representative for Destination Mekong. 

How do you want to make an impact for the region?

The Mekong region shows how many different cultures live and interact with each other. It connects not only people from our surrounding countries but is also home to people from Europe, America, Australia, and Africa. It is a region where we learn how to become better by inviting others to experience other cultures and homes.  To me, it is an honour to welcome travellers telling everyone about this amazing place to engage them to visit again and again. 

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Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Georg Arlt

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Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Georg Arlt

Special Advisor (China Outbound)

What excites you about the Mekong Region?

I have been connected for almost 50 years now with China's tourism, economy and culture. However, in the 21st century the other riparian countries of the Mekong have also gained in importance and global influence. It is fascinating to see how the different influences and cultural interactions have shaped distinct identities. Tourism as an instrument of peace can help to support the cooperation within the region but also between the Mekong Region and the rest of the world.

Tell us about your Background

I grew up and studied in West-Berlin, Germany, with first visits to Mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong already in the 1970s. As a publisher, bookseller, tour operator, organiser of events, exhibitions and fairs and in the new millennium as Professor for International Tourism Management and Founder of the COTRI China Outbound Tourism Research Institute East and Southeast Asia have been the center of my economic and scientific life. I retired from university and I am happy that after the pandemic all my energy can go into helping to achieve a sustainable development of tourism in the region.

How do you want to make an impact for the region?

The paradigm of Meaningful Tourism is a powerful tool to we developed during the pandemic to achieve more quality, benefits and satisfaction for all stakeholders in tourism. With trainings, publications, consulting, workshops and research I look forward to help the region to move away from Arrival Numbers as main KPI towards a concentration on a form of tourism, which cherishes quality more than quantity and give more people a chance to benefit from it.

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Neal Bermas

NB Portrait HoiAn 2copy

Neal Bermas

Special Advisor (Social Enterprise)

What excites you about the Mekong Region?

Simply put, what doesn’t excite me about the region? Since my first visit 20 years ago, the sites, smells, colors, energy … the markets, the people, the foods, and the spiritual have captured my attention. That largely remains the same. It’s exciting to be part of preserving all that Mekong specialness for others, too.

Tell us about your Background

For the last dozen years, I have lived and devoted myself to sustainable hospitality and tourism in Vietnam and the Mekong region. I have been an international hotel and gaming consultant, a restaurant owner and operator, and lectured widely at top US universities and culinary schools.

I established and ran STREETS International, an ambitious social enterprise providing vocational hospitality and culinary training to poor, marginalized, orphaned, and trafficked youth from Vietnam and Cambodia. The STREETS residential program included two authentic Vietnamese eateries based in Hoi An, Vietnam. Pre-pandemic, we served approximately 15,000 guests per year. We have over 350 graduates at the best hotels and resorts throughout the region.

I have been a speaker and award recipient from Destination Mekong a number of times. I know its importance and also the potential.

How do you want to make an impact for the region?

I want to continue to build on the impact Destination Mekong has already made. I want to be part of realizing the possibilities beyond a conventional RMO (regional marketing organization) to being a bona fide leading tourism organization that stands for responsible, sustainable tourism and travel. There are development threats but also opportunities to collaborate with local communities.

The opportunity is to strongly differentiate Destination Mekong as a model of impact, marrying sustainable tourism and sound economic development. The slow travel movement is sustainable tourism at its best and it fits the terrain of the countries in our region perfectly. I want to see this movement gain momentum.

The concentration of successful travel-related social enterprises in our region is unique worldwide. It’s a platform that we should celebrate. I want to be impactful by supporting social entrepreneurs to market and expand sustainable tourism social enterprises. Most importantly, as a Special Advisor to Destination Mekong, I want to do everything I can utilizing sustainable and best tourism business practices to return our region to the robust pre-pandemic environment and beyond.

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Shinobu Hayama

Shinobu

Shinobu Hayama

Special Advisor (Japan-Mekong Cooperation)

What excites you about the Mekong Region?

Cambodia, Vietnam and Thailand have gifted me some of the most transformative journeys since my university years. Each destination has moved me in their unique ways, the warm and resilient people, the depth of their stories, the vibrant species, mountains and rivers they flow with. I carry gratitude for being welcomed into their communities, over heartfelt homemade meals in their slum to scrubbing elephants in their sanctuary. The region was also my door to sustainable tourism on a global standard through the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) Conference held in Chiang Mai, now a GSTC Trainer. The region continues to inspire me around the power of travel, as a way to connect, contribute and collaborate beyond us and them. This hope is what excites me the most.

Tell us about your Background

As the Mekong and other parts of the world taught me the power of travel, the 2011 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster in Japan made this tangible even more. People flew in across borders to combine efforts, where I saw that the more diverse people collaborate, the more solutions for a sustainable region. Since then, with sustainable development and humanity as a purpose, I have been dedicated to facilitating this through consulting, designing travel to capacity-building for people across cultures and sectors. I founded Journey for Change Co., Ltd. in 2019 to offer consultation and human resource development around sustainable travel and education, integrating approaches of sustainable tourism, social innovation, and change. With a vision to further behavioral to the systematic transformation towards a positive balance of society, environment, and economy, works include supporting destinations and businesses such as world heritage sites, Japan’s national airline and stakeholders, and academia including a partnership with a graduate school bridging multidisciplinary science.

How do you want to make an impact for the region?

I believe the Mekong Region and Japan carry diverse similarities and differences in their environment, society, economy, and their people. This also means a vast opportunity to learn from each other, transform and redefine together a healthy balance. Issues of another country are not just theirs, our nature and neighborhoods are intertwined, and I believe the Mekong River is a breathing symbol of this. I am motivated to explore and discover lasting cooperation through movements of people, knowledge, and practices amongst the countries, one step each towards a collective impact.

Daisy Park

Daisy-Park_02

Daisy Park 박재아

Special Advisor (Korea-Mekong Cooperation)

What excites you about the Mekong Region?

"Diversity a Key for unlocking sustainability" is my faith in work. The GMS is the most accessible region from Korea, and its level of diversity is above our imagination.
Most Koreans have had little opportunity to experience the true beauty and access the genuine value of the Mekong region, its many authentic experiences provided by small sustainable businesses and local communities. As a pioneer in sustainable travel and explorer of these treasures, I would like to showcase my findings to travelers, entrepreneurs, investors, policymakers, and more, to build strong cooperations between Korea and the tourism industry in the Mekong region.

Tell us about your Background

I have more than 20 years of experience representing National Tourism organizations of diverse countries, especially island nations. Prioritizing promoting sustainable tourism, I have helped destinations connect to the Korean market.
As an avid traveler, I believe in minimizing the economic leakage destinations experience by staying at local-owned hotels, eating at local restaurants, and finding local tour operators. I have worked closely with local-owned facilities to connect them to the Korean market.

How do you want to make an impact for the region?

I want to contribute to creating opportunities for communities in the Mekong region by developing stories, attractions, itineraries of hidden destinations, where travelers can experience the cultures, histories, and natural beauties of the Mekong countries. My focus will be on creating impact and preventing economic leakage by enabling inclusive investments and partnerships to build local economies and ensure benefits stay in the communities. I want to encourage all stakeholders in the tourism industry to join me in creating value through partnerships.

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Sophie Hartman

sophie-hartman_02

Sophie Hartman

Special Advisor (Training)

What excites you about the Mekong Region?

Opportunities, dynamism, resilience… These three words come to my mind every time I think of this place that I have called home for almost seven years. Over time, people in the Mekong countries have demonstrated their ability to accommodate change and external influences, while not allowing these to utterly transform their societies. Often seen as a force for innovative and effective development, young people represent a sizable portion of the population. They are energetic,  innovative,  and  enthusiastic. If harnessed properly, they can help usher in a brighter future for them and their community. For the past few years, it has been my privilege to work alongside organizations that strives to make this a reality by empowering disadvantaged youth to fulfil their potential and become responsible adults.

Tell us about your Background

Bringing positive change in the lives of the most vulnerable and discovering new cultures have been the two key drivers of my career. I have been working on various capacity building projects targeting the social and economic inclusion of disadvantaged populations, most of them focused on tourism training. Most notably, I supported the launch and implementation of the Lao National Institute of Tourism and Hospitality's skills training programs. I also have coordinated the Association of Southeast Asian Social Enterprises for Training in Hospitality & Catering, a network that brings together vocational training centers that provide underprivileged youth with a path to employment in the tourism and hospitality industry across Cambodia, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam. These experiences convinced me of the difference that tourism can make for people if destinations are able to harness its benefits while mitigating its negative effects.

How do you want to make an impact for the region?

I wish to contribute my experience working with education stakeholders in the region to promote tourism as a driver of inclusive growth and sustainability. Over recent decades, the region has made remarkable progress in terms of development. Yet, a significant share of the population is vulnerable to falling back in poverty and still has limited access to education and decent jobs. The tourism sector can become a strong inclusion lever for underserved populations, as long as they are provided with the necessary productive and transversal skills, and sustainable employment opportunities. This requires coordinated efforts across the industry. By being actively involved in Destination Mekong, I want to contribute to enhanced collaboration between educators and employers to create value in the region and reach that goal.

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Jens Uwe Parkitny

Jens with Kayaw - Myanmar - 1

Jens Uwe Parkitny

Special Advisor (Strategy)

CEO at Oway Group (Myanmar)

What excites you about the Mekong Region?

While working as a travel writer, I visited many countries around the world and was always fascinated by the diversity of people and their different traditions. In December 1999, on a private trip to Myanmar, I underwent a transformation though. I am not sure what triggered it: The light, the people, the slow pace of life or the spiritual mood that surrounded me as I moved among a 1,000-year-old Buddhist temples and shrines. The landscapes I saw through my eyes somehow seem to reflect my inner landscape. Since then, I came back and crisscrossed the region by foot, by boat, by plane, by car and on bicycle. The adventures and experiences I had along the way have all been extraordinary – sometimes sad, sometimes funny, but always fulfilling for the people I encountered and myself. Therefore, I decided to make the Mekong region my home.

Tell us about your Background

I worked in the travel industry for almost three decades, initially as a travel trade journalist, specializing in sustainable tourism, and later in executive positions, doing business development for global players such as Microsoft, Expedia, and Accor Asia Pacific, with career stations in Germany, Hong Kong, and Singapore. My wife is from Myanmar and together we decided to move to Myanmar and build “Loikaw Lodge by the Lake”, a small, upscale Boutique Hotel in remote Kayah State. That was back in 2015. Shortly after opening our Lodge, The CultureTrip.com recommended the Lodge as one of the ten "Best Hotels to stay at in Myanmar". The Lodge is also featured in the "Experience Mekong Collection" that showcases “innovative, responsible travel experiences and businesses in the Greater Mekong Subregion, based on unique best practices and successful implementation and execution of innovations in responsible tourism development”. In my spare time I love to explore, mingle with local people and take portraits of the different ethnics that make Myanmar and the Mekong region so diverse and unique as a destination.

How do you want to make an impact for the region?

I strongly believe in tourism as a catalyst for economic and social development and change, if developed in a way that local communities and stakeholders benefit from it. When we built Loikaw Lodge, my wife and I were fully aware that it is challenging and risk inherent to develop even a small-scale project in Kayah State in Myanmar as that particular region was ravaged by conflict for so long, however, we went ahead to realize our vision: a small but charming lodge that could serve as a role model for similar small hotel projects, not only for Kayah State but the wider region. After all, the majority of visitors to the Mekong region are looking exactly for this: small, comfortable boutique hotels that reflect local architecture and craftmanship as well as respect tradition, fit nicely into the landscape, provide an authentic experience and a apply sustainable principles from the onset. Having realized our Lodge project from vision to implementation, allows me to apply a stakeholder perspective. At the same time, I have worked for large corporations that required a lot of strategic thinking from me. It is these different perspectives that I apply when advising Destination Mekong so it can formulate an impactful strategy.

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Gavin Bell

Gavin-Bell_03

Gavin Bell

Chief Development Officer

What excites you about the Mekong Region?

After working in many other regions, coming to Cambodia in 2018 with a few weeks’ notice was my first time in the Mekong Region. In Cambodia I was quickly enamored with the genuine warmth of the Khmer people. After wider travels I discovered a great diversity of culture and nature but linked with elements of shared heritage. The Great Mekong is a spirit that ties it all together. The region quickly pushes those that cannot connect away – but absorbs those that connect. I think I am rapidly falling into the latter group.

Tell us about your Background

I have nearly 30 years of working in responsible tourism, protected areas, and sustainable rural development. This started from the grassroots as a Ranger in UK National Parks to now supporting governments and international organizations. Since leaving the UK in 2006, a major focus of my activities has been in the transition countries of South-Eastern Europe, Central Asia and the Caucasus I have worked with and on projects supported by a diverse range of international organizations including the UNWTO, UNDP, EU, KfW, ADB, WWF, and the World Bank as well as directly for government agencies and national NGOs. Since 2018 I have been Team Leader/International Resident Expert for the AFD funded Tourism Commercial Capacity Building Programme of the Ministry of Tourism of the Royal Government of Cambodia, and from March 2022, as well as my Destination Mekong role will be supporting the EU with work on an Inclusive Tourism Recovery Plan for Vietnam.

How do you want to make an impact for the region?

Through my role with Destination Mekong, and the other roles that will support it, I hope I can strengthen opportunities to build a positive network of those committed to sustainable tourism. Spending the Covid years in Cambodia showed the real importance of the tourist economy and the impact the full stop had across the value chain. I want to see the day when every tuk tuk is busy, guides are able to select their customers and the governments value their natural heritage for the long-term wealth it can bring.

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Jens Thraenhart

JensThraenhart

Jens Thraenhart

Founder

“As the role of Destination Marketing and Management Organizations evolves, so must its business model. The public and private sectors must collaborate. Together, these two forces can achieve greatness. This is especially vital preparing for a sustainable and balanced tourism recovery.”

What excites you about the Mekong Region?

I have traveled to virtually every corner in the Mekong Region, and have seen little villages with ancient rituals to bustling cities, tasted some amazing (some very interesting) food and drinks, was stunned by incredible world heritage sites and natural wonders, and connected with the most amazing people on this planet that opened their hears to welcome me into their homes.  The countries of the Greater Mekong Subregion (Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Thailand, Viet Nam, and the provinces of Guangxi and Yunnan in PR China) have always fascinated me. It is such a beautiful and stunning region, rich in culture, heritage, and environmental assets – to be able to assist in promoting and developing tourism in these countries was a tremendous honour, to get the trust from the six governments. On the other hand, it was an exciting challenge to create a platform for stakeholder engagement and collaboration. I also saw this role as a unique opportunity to build a new model when it comes to sustainable destination management. 

Tell us about your Background

My entrepreneurial edge was sharpened, while studying medicine and working in a psychiatric hospital in Germany, when starting a unique food catering business, after buying a crepe maker in France, and offering crepes to parties in hospitals and street fairs, before crepes became popular in Germany. I went on to study hotel management in Switzerland, graduating with an MBA from Cornell University, and currently completing my doctorate thesis from The Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

When I was 24 years old, I was a General Manager of an 80-room golf resort in Germany, and I went on to work for luxury hotel companies from Kempinski Hotels & Resorts, Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts, Fairmont Hotels & Resorts, and Dusit Hotels & Resorts, before moving into tourism. My first step into government was working for the Canadian Tourism Commission (now Destination Canada) as head of Marketing Strategy. Digital & CRM, after being  appointed as Executive Director of the Mekong Tourism Coordinating Office by the six member countries.

Always having  been fascinated by Asia, I move to Beijing for 5 years and co-founded pioneering marketing and travel technology firm Dragon Trail in 2008, as well published the China Travel Trends books and online magazine, while being Chair for PATA China (Pacific Asia Travel Association). After almost 8 years heading the Mekong Tourism Coordinating Office, I have recently left Bangkok for the Caribbean, having been appointed as the Chief Executive Officer of the National Tourism Board of the Republic of Barbados. I am humbled to have been recognized as, Top 100 Rising Stars in Travel (2003),  Top 25 Extraordinary Minds in Travel and Tourism (204), Top 20 Brilliant Minds in European Hospitality (2014), and Global Tourism Hero (2021). 

How do you want to make an impact for the region?

I will always feel connected to this amazing part of the world and its people, but I will probably answer this question more on how I believe I have made an impact for the region over the past 10+years:  I realized early as Executive Director of The Mekong Tourism Coordinating Office  that in order to make regional tourism collaboration in the Greater Mekong work, it can only work in cooperation with the private sector. Due to the mistrust by the industry of government, it was vital to develop a private-sector led regional tourism board, which can work independently but in alignment with the public sector-owned regional tourism cooperation.  

I created the concept of Destination Mekong and formed the Mekong Tourism Advisory Group (MeTAG), established thematic community-driven tourism niche expert groups from the bottom-up, and put in place a sound governance structure to operate the private-sector-led regional tourism board in a transparent way, hosted by the Ministry of Tourism of Cambodia as a GMS member government.  With the private sector contributing to programs, initiatives, and campaigns to collaboratively promote and develop the region in an inclusive and sustainable fashion, supported by the policy framework of the six governments, the travel and tourism industry overall will increase resilience and competitiveness.

Personally, this was my greatest achievement, and the most valuable contribution to travel and tourism for the Mekong Region.

Please find out more by reading my interview with Sustainability Leaders:
https://sustainability-leaders.com/jens-thraenhart-interview/

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