Martin J Craigs, CEO, Pacific Asia Travel Association
Martin J Craigs joined the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) as the Chief Executive Officer on October 31, 2011.
PATA is a not-for profit membership association that acts as a catalyst for the responsible development of travel and tourism within the Asia Pacific region. The Association, which celebrated its 60th anniversary in 2011, provides travel industry leadership and counsel to over 80 government, state and city tourism bodies, nearly 50 international airlines, airports and cruise lines, and many hundreds of travel industry companies across Asia Pacific and beyond.
Prior to PATA, Martin was the five-time elected president of Aerospace Forum Asia (AFA), a Hong Kong-based non-profit business networking, advocacy and charity fund-raising group of which he was a founding committee member in 1986.
He has chaired and spoken at numerous aerospace related conferences over the past ten years, and is a regular commentator on mainstream media such as BBC, CNN, FT and ASWJ. He co-anchored CNBC's Squawk Box aviation special from Singapore in February 2011.
Martin first visited Hong Kong and Shanghai in 1980 for Short Brothers of Belfast. Selling "square" aircraft made in Ireland to China was the first of Martin’s many colourful communications challenges.
Well known for his 1985-97 leadership of Saab Aircraft's Asia-Pacific office in Hong Kong, his missionary marketing team built sales of their 35-60 seat airliners from one to over 70 Saabs in China, Japan, Chinese Taipei, Malaysia, Australia, New Zealand and the Marshall Islands.
In 1998, Martin was recruited as Executive Vice President, Asia by BAE SYSTEMS for their venture capital based joint venture in Hong Kong. In 2002, he founded his own institutional advisory company Hillcrest International whose clients have included AirAsia, Liberty Aerospace, The Economist Group, Reed Exhibitions and ELFC.
Martin is the holder of British and Irish passports and a HK identity card and alumni of INSEAD, Columbia and Cambridge universities. He is currently working through his ninth passport. Married for over 25 years to Sherwin, they have two sons together, Kain 21 and Kallam 19.