Matt Gebbie, Director, Horwath HTL, and Executive Committee Member, APOLA; Shyn Yee Ho, Director, Horwath HTL, and Executive Committee Member, APOLA; Willem Niemeijer, Executive Committee Member and Founding Member, APOLA; Noor Ahmad Hamid, CEO, PATA; and Michael Sagild, Co-founder & President, Could Collective, and Executive Committee Member, APOLA, at the MoU signing.
PATA and APOLA signed a Memorandum of Understanding to support sustainable growth, research collaboration and knowledge exchange in the outdoor lodging sector across Asia Pacific.
The Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) and the Asia-Pacific Outdoor Lodging Association (APOLA) have entered into a formal partnership through the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), aimed at strengthening collaboration across the Asia Pacific outdoor lodging sector.
APOLA has been incorporated as a not-for-profit organisation with a mission to foster sustainable growth, innovation, and operational excellence in the outdoor lodging segment, commonly known as glamping.
The MoU was signed by PATA CEO Noor Ahmad Hamid and APOLA Executive Committee Member and Founding Member Willem Niemeijer on Thursday, January 22, during the Thailand Tourism Forum 2026 in Bangkok.
According to Noor Ahmad Hamid, the partnership is expected to create a stronger foundation for international collaboration across the Asia Pacific region, facilitating the exchange of best practices and the development of joint initiatives that support responsible and sustainable tourism.
Willem Niemeijer noted that the outdoor lodging sector in the region is growing at approximately 11% annually, highlighting the growing role of nature-based accommodation in the tourism landscape. He also underlined the sector’s potential to deliver high-quality, responsible tourism experiences in natural environments.
Niemeijer further pointed out that demand for nature-first accommodation formats, including tented camps, cabins, yurts, treehouses, and nature pods located in coastal, mountain, and forest areas, has increased significantly during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to promoting sustainable practices, APOLA aims to help establish sector standards.
Under the terms of the agreement, the areas of cooperation include reciprocal and complementary membership access, allowing both organisations to benefit from each other’s member services at the association level.
The partnership also covers research and knowledge exchange, with APOLA providing selected research findings, tourism insights and travel trend analysis on a quarterly basis through PATA’s members-only communication channels.
In addition, PATA and APOLA will support reciprocal activities, such as the mutual promotion of events and, where relevant, speaker participation. Members and representatives of both organisations will also have opportunities to engage through networking initiatives and annual events, with registration support provided in accordance with the agreement.