Report of the Asia President at the 51st AGM SIAA

4th June 2022

Andrew J Wood

Pictured:

SKAL ASIA President Andrew J Wood addressing delegates at the recent virtual AGM in the presence of Skal International President Burcin Turkkan and the executive board

Distinguished guests

Welcome to today’s 51st Annual General Meeting of Skal International Asia.

We are delighted that so many of you could join us today.

You have been sent two weeks ago the full agenda including all of the Asia reports. 

Firstly I would like to start my report by saying that it has been a tremendously difficult year for tourism throughout the world and Asia has been no exception. The good news is now TOURISM is slowly ramping up once again and people are moving and travelling, we are seeing a lot more face-to-face interactions not only with Skålleagues but also with overseas visitors. I am particularly proud how Asia and Skal globally is leading the charge towards normalcy. 

The present Asia board was elected in September 2021 and I would like to extend my heartfelt appreciation to each and everyone of my board members for all their hard work and dedication for and on behalf of SKAL ASIA. They are a great credit to the SKAL movement.

During my first board meeting with the new committee on the 9th of September,

a day after the election, I reviewed the roadmap that was presented during my election campaign. I’m delighted to say that many of the points have been tackled and have been followed up and strongly committed to by the board.

We knew that in 2022 the biggest challenge we face will be the retention of our members and the second challenge will be to quickly find a home for our bank account.

For membership we have been paying a great deal of attention to how the Asian Area could help and support our five national committees and 41 clubs throughout the 15 countries that today makes up the SKAL ASIAN AREA. I am pleased to say that we have been very successful with our PROJECT 3000 campaign with a target to raise membership in Asia to 3000+ members  and have seen fantastic support in all sectors but I particularly would like to congratulate the national team in India who has shown tremendous growth in Active and Young Skal membership and have fully supported Shalini and Asia’s Project 3000 with substantial numbers of young students including a record number in KOLKATA now the world’s largest Skal grouping of Young Skålleagues with 177 members – an outstanding achievement!

I am delighted to see Phuket is also bouncing back quickly and the board will revisit Phuket for our mid-term meeting in November to view the progress for hosting of the 2023 SKAL ASIAN AREA CONGRESS 1-4 June. We also have received an exceptional bid for the 2024 Asia Congress from Bahrain which will be presented to you today.

It is also pleasing to see that Kolkata is also bidding for the 2024 SKÅL World Congress which will be a world class event and possibly the best attended congress of the decade.

FOUR cities I believe have submitted bids which I understand will be short listed to two to be presented in Croatia in October this year.

Pictured

Skal International World President Burcin Turkkan 

The board was advised to move the account away from Spain and was hoping to register and open an account in Mauritius but eventually chose Singapore.

Unfortunately Skal Asia despite its long history was never able to register as an entity this is causing us some considerable pain and expense and perhaps SI could assist all unregistered SKAL groupings to be registered centrally through headquarters?

With the very high fees at 750 Euros pm charged by HQ  for handling the bank account for Asia, we may have to reduce the Asia MDF sponsor awards we give out per annum which would be disappointing.

As I come to my closing remarks I would like to talk about membership including your help needed to revitalise our suspended clubs in Pakistan, Yangon and Incheon, Korea

I am pleased to say our membership is growing.

At last year’s handover we had 43 clubs but 4 clubs were suspended for non payment shortly after. Today I am pleased to say that since February this year our membership, even with fewer clubs, now 41 which includes the 3 new clubs in India and hopefully more to come, our membership has grown +10.29%

Membership is higher at 2614 members today. Dushy in her excellent report sent 2 weeks ago gives you the breakdown and details however I wanted to add my thanks to all National Committees and clubs for leading the way towards growth and renewal.

Finally I look forward to meeting with you all soon – in person and let me say let’s all work together as a team to grow back SKÅL to a pinnacle of excellence in travel and tourism!

Thank You

Andrew J Wood

President

Notes to editor:

SKÅL ASIA: With 2614 members in 41 Clubs, 28 grouped in 5 national committees and 11 affiliated clubs, the Skål Asian Area is the most diverse Area in the world of Skål, spanning from Mauritius in the Indian Ocean over more than 10,000 km to Guam in the Pacific Ocean with clubs in 15 fascinating countries in-between. The Asian Area accounts for twenty per cent of all Skål International’s global members.

About Skål International: Skål International is a professional organisation of tourism leaders around the world. Founded in 1934, Skål is an advocate of global tourism and peace and is a not for profit association. Skål does not discriminate on the basis of sex, age, race, religion or politics. Skål is focused on doing business and business networking in the company of fellow professionals in an atmosphere of friendship. The Skål toast promotes Happiness, Good Health, Friendship, and Long Life. For more information, please visit www.skal.org 

Pictured

Skal Asia President Andrew J Wood at home in Bangkok prior to the virtual zoom meeting