Paul Pruangkarn is the Director – Communications at the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA), headquartered in Bangkok, Thailand.

He oversees day-to-day operations of all communications and serves as the senior spokesperson for the Association. Paul works to enhance PATA’s media relationships, maintaining partnership agreements with such organisations as BBC World News, National Geographic Traveller, Skift, TTG Asia and the Professional Travel Bloggers Association (PTBA).

Paul hails from New York and has spent the past eight years living in Thailand. Prior to PATA, Paul worked at an Internet start-up in Bangkok as the Senior Business Development Manager, overseeing the daily operations, and as the Sub-Editor at Radio Thailand English Language News, where he also worked as an on-air personality. Before moving to Thailand, he spent five years as the Newsroom Supervisor at Business Wire, a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway.

He has also worked for such companies as Reuters, British Petroleum, and Traditional Home Magazine. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree majoring in Classics with a concentration in Mediterranean Art and Archaeology from the University of Buffalo in New York.

PATA is a not-for-profit membership association that acts as a catalyst for the responsible development of travel and tourism to, from and within the Asia Pacific region. The Association provides aligned advocacy, insightful research and innovative events to its member organisations, comprising government, state and city tourism bodies; international airlines, airports and cruise lines; educational institutions, and hundreds of travel industry companies in Asia Pacific and beyond.