The Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) has appointed Ivy Chee as PATA Regional Director-Asia, effective January 16, 2012.

Chee, a Malaysian national, will be responsible for promoting PATA's progressive Next Gen range of membership benefits to travel and tourism industry companies and organisations, and engineering opportunities for the Association and its members in Asia (excluding Greater China).

Before joining PATA, Chee was Regional Senior Business Development Manager at online travel aggregator Wego Pte Ltd in Singapore.

At Wego, Chee worked with clients such as Malaysia Airlines, Air Asia, IHG, Starwood, Hilton, Accor Hospitality, American Express, Tourism New Zealand, Tourism Western Australia, to name a few. As Digital Ad Sales Manager at Singapore Press Holdings she worked with clients such as Singapore Airlines, Tourism Australia, Tourism NSW, Tourism Queensland, the Korea National Tourism Organization and Agoda, among others.

"Ivy is an important hire who embodies PATA's Next Gen philosophy," said Martin Craigs, PATA CEO. "A Malaysian who studied in Australia, has worked in Singapore, with a background in the new media and online travel space, and who speaks a handful of regional languages."

Chee speaks English, Mandarin, Cantonese, Malay and basic Japanese. She is a Bachelor of Arts graduate in professional communications from RMIT University Melbourne and has diplomas in Mass Communications from the Melbourne Institute of Business Technology and Taylor's College. She is also a Taekwondo black belt.