Dr. Chris Bottrill was elected Chairman of PATA in May 2018. As the immediate past Dean of the Faculty of Global and Community Studies at Capilano University, and current Director, International, he oversees a portfolio of university internationalisation, international projects and partnerships, that include tourism and hospitality, film, animation and design programming. He has taught destination development, sustainability, marketing, and entrepreneurship at universities in Canada, New Zealand, the United States, and Austria.

Dr. Bottrill’s first experience with PATA was as a conference volunteer in Vancouver in 1995. He joined PATA in 2011. He has served as the Chair of Human Capital Development Committee and Vice Chair of the Sustainability and Social Responsibility Committee since 2014. During his tenure, he initiated a revision of both committee terms of reference, rebuilt committee membership, and led the formation of action plans which have seen many initiatives begin and come to fruition. He also facilitated highly successful Youth Symposiums in Phnom Penh, Chengdu, and Bangalore, Guam, Sri Lanka and Macao. A PATA Foundation Trustee for the past three years, Dr. Bottrill is also the Director of PATA-supported Vietnam Community Tourism project aimed at protecting ethnic hill tribe culture through tourism, and in 2017 he led a PATA study on Indigenous Tourism and Human Rights.

Dr. Bottrill holds a Doctorate of Philosophy in tourism network and destination development from Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand.  He has extensive applied industry experience having completed over 50 tourism management and development projects across the globe, including new product feasibility analysis, marketing strategies, resource assessments and multiple stakeholder engagement processes. He has also presented on tourism-related topics ranging from Olympic preparedness to community tourism development at conferences and forums in China, Canada, Russia, Finland, New Zealand, Vietnam, Malaysia, India and Cambodia.