DSH Caribbean Star Limited and the China Horse Club were taken onto the world stage when the chairman of both organizations, Teo Ah Khing, was among a unique panel of invited speakers to launch the 2017 World Tourism Forum in Lucerne, Switzerland yesterday.
Chairman Teo joined Ms Lina Annab (Minister for Tourism and Antiquities, Jordan), Mr Puneet Chhatwal (CEO, Deutsche Hospitality), Mr Sean Cleary (Chairman, Strategic Concepts), Mr Jason Fox (Head, The Cleverness) and Mr Simon Lehmann (President, Phocuswright) in a discussion that launched the two-day forum.
The World Tourism Forum Lucerne has drawn together more than 500 guests from 70 countries with the panel discussion taking place in front of an audience that included the Honourable Allen M. Chastanet (Prime Minister of St Lucia), The Honourable Johann N. Schneider-Ammann (Swiss Federal Councillor), Mr Taleb Rifai (Secretary General, World Tourism Organization), Ms Dho Young-Shim (Member of the UN Sustainability Development Goals Advocacy Group), Ms Isabel Hill (Director National Travel and Tourism Office, U.S. Department of Commerce), Rasoul Jalalil (General Manager, Uber), Mr John Perrottet (Senior Tourism Specialist, World Bank), the Honourable Dr Walter Mzembi (Minister for Tourism and Hospitality, Zimbabwe) and the Honourable Dominic Fedee (Minister for Tourism, St. Lucia).
Mr Taleb Rifai, Secretary General of the World Tourism Organization
Mr Rifai, Secretary General of the World Tourism Organization, prefaced the panel discussion by explaining that tourism is the third largest industry in the world and is only growing with an estimated 1.8 billion tourists expected to be travelling the world annually in the coming years.
Mr Teo spoke as an investor in the industry and as a participant in the industry, most notably in China, when promoting a theme regularly repeated during the course of the opening day of working together to overcome obstacles.
“We have been combining tourism and sport for the last four years with an event in China called the CECF that is designed to bring China to the world and the world to China. As we head into 2017 we will introduce a theme of ‘Prosper Thy Neighbour’ which is focused on working together, collaborating for better results with people from different industries and different countries, it is not about a ruthless business model focused only on returns,” Mr Teo said.
Mr Teo Ah Khing, Chairman of DSH Caribbean Star Limited and China Horse Club
“We are also focused on shared success. [Desert Star Holdings] is not a big Chinese investor with USD40 billion but we have a matrix of members investing USDS40 million to USD100 million and 1000 members is USD40 billion.”
The World Tourism Forum Lucerne is bringing together representatives of international governments, industry leaders, entrepreneurs and academics with a collective hope that tourism can make the world a better, safer and more engaging place. It continues today with the Prime Minister of St Lucia among the feature speakers.
