Paul Pruangkarn

DIRECTOR – COMMUNICATIONS & EXTERNAL AFFAIRS, PATA

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

In his role, he oversees day-to-day operations of all communications and public relations, and serves as the senior spokesperson for the Association. Paul works to enhance PATA’s public image through various media outlets and maintains the Association’s media partnerships with such organisations as BBC World News, Skift, TTG Asia, and Travel Weekly Group. He has also spoken regularly at conferences on behalf of PATA, as well as facilitated and emceed many events organised by the Association. In addition to his communications role, Paul also manages the PATA’s public sector relationships with governments across the region, ensuring alignment of the Association’s public policy positions together with its member organisations.

Paul hails from New York and has spent over a decade living in Thailand. Prior to PATA, Paul worked at an Internet start-up in Bangkok as the Senior Business Development Manager, overseeing its daily operations and B2B hotels sales partnerships, 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, working with clients across the US, London, Paris, Berlin and Tokyo.

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