{"id":8254,"date":"2026-05-20T11:41:32","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T11:41:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.travelindex.org\/media\/global-travel-news\/mekong-tourism-forum-2026-to-spotlight-people-centered-tourism-in-yangon\/"},"modified":"2026-05-20T11:41:32","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T11:41:32","slug":"mekong-tourism-forum-2026-to-spotlight-people-centered-tourism-in-yangon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.travelindex.org\/media\/global-travel-news\/mekong-tourism-forum-2026-to-spotlight-people-centered-tourism-in-yangon\/","title":{"rendered":"Mekong Tourism Forum 2026 to Spotlight People-Centered Tourism in Yangon"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Mekong<\/div>\n

\"Mekong<\/a>Yangon, Myanmar, May 20, 2026 \/ TRAVELINDEX \/ Tourism leaders, destination experts, community tourism practitioners, educators, hospitality professionals, and regional partners from across the Greater Mekong Subregion will meet in Yangon from 16\u201318 June 2026 for the Mekong Tourism Forum 2026 under the theme \u201cTourism for People, Travel with Purpose<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Organized by the Ministry of Hotels, Tourism and Culture of Myanmar and the Mekong Tourism Coordinating Office, the annual forum will focus on how tourism can create more meaningful benefits for local communities, preserve living culture, strengthen regional connections, and respond to the evolving expectations of today\u2019s travelers. Taking place at the Pan Pacific Hotel in Yangon, this year\u2019s program will feature keynote presentations, industry insight sessions, panel discussions, gastronomy experiences, networking opportunities, and technical visits across Yangon.<\/p>\n

Ahead of the main forum, a practical pre-forum workshop on evidence-based destination marketing and tourism insights will focus on practical approaches to tourism intelligence, destination marketing, and cross-border collaboration. MTF highlights both international experts and changemakers from within the Mekong region itself \u2014 spotlighting practitioners, community leaders, social enterprises, researchers, tourism innovators, and local champions whose work directly shapes tourism across Cambodia, China, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Thailand, and Viet Nam.<\/p>\n

The forum will open with a keynote address by Masaru Takayama titled \u201cTourism for People: From Principles to Lasting Impact,\u201d exploring tourism through the framework of Conservation, Community, Culture, and Commerce. Speakers across the program will include representatives and experts from organizations such as AirAsia MOVE, Planeterra, Asian Ecotourism Network, Clickable Impact, ASEAN Tourism Association, and Local Alike. Sessions will address topics including community-based tourism, cultural preservation, inclusion, hospitality workforce development, and regional cooperation.<\/p>\n

Beyond the conference sessions, delegates will experience Yangon through cultural activities and technical visits reflecting the city\u2019s heritage, spirituality, architecture, hospitality, and artisan traditions. The forum will also feature a regional gastronomy exhibition celebrating culinary traditions and food culture from across the Greater Mekong Subregion.<\/p>\n

\u201cTourism is one of the few sectors where local communities can directly benefit from human connection, cultural exchange, and shared experiences. MTF 2026 is built around the belief that tourism should serve people and places first<\/em>,\u201d said Dee Suvimol Thanasarakij, Executive Director of the Mekong Tourism Coordinating Office. Complimentary registration for Mekong Tourism Forum 2026 is now open.<\/p>\n

About the Mekong Tourism Coordinating Office (MTCO)<\/strong>
\nEstablished in 2006, the Mekong Tourism Coordinating Office (MTCO) is a tourism collaboration framework of the six Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) governments: Cambodia, China (Yunnan Province and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region), Lao PDR, Myanmar, Thailand, and Viet Nam. The member countries work together to implement initiatives that strengthen tourism\u2019s contribution to inclusive economic growth and environmental sustainability in the region. MTCO\u2019s work programme is guided by the GMS Tourism Working Group (TWG), composed of senior representatives of the National Tourism Organizations (NTOs) of the six member countries.<\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yangon, Myanmar, May 20, 2026 \/ TRAVELINDEX \/ Tourism leaders, destination experts, community tourism practitioners, educators, hospitality professionals, and regional partners from across the Greater Mekong Subregion will meet in Yangon from 16\u201318 June 2026 for the Mekong Tourism Forum 2026 under the theme \u201cTourism for People, Travel with Purpose.\u201d Organized by the Ministry of …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[2315,37,14,2316,1966],"class_list":["post-8254","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-global-travel-news","tag-global-travelnews","tag-news","tag-travelindex","tag-travelindex-media-group","tag-untourism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.travelindex.org\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8254","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.travelindex.org\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.travelindex.org\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.travelindex.org\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.travelindex.org\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8254"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.travelindex.org\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8254\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.travelindex.org\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.travelindex.org\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.travelindex.org\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}