Canadian Association Of Tour Operators Appoints Global Travel Leader Paola Briata To Board Of Directors To Strengthen Industry Vision And Outbound Travel Sustainability

Published on August 12, 2025

By: Tuhin Sarkar

The Canadian Association of Tour Operators (CATO) has appointed Paola Briata, Vice-President of Contracting and Operations Product Delivery astatine WorldStrides, to its Board of Directors. This move adds a leader pinch 3 decades of world recreation expertise to nan organisation’s activity team. Briata’s world inheritance covers leisure, corporate, cruise and acquisition travel, giving her a uniquely wide position connected nan sector. Based successful Canada for nan past 20 years, she will now play a domiciled successful shaping policies and strategies that effect outbound tourism from Canada to destinations worldwide. Her assignment aligns pinch CATO’s ngo to beforehand responsible and sustainable travel.

A Strategic Leadership Appointment

CATO’s determination to bring Briata onto its Board comes astatine a clip erstwhile nan recreation manufacture is balancing beardown betterment pinch semipermanent sustainability goals. Her existent domiciled astatine WorldStrides, formerly known arsenic Explorica, places her astatine nan bosom of strategical planning, operational transportation and marketplace improvement successful nan acquisition recreation space. This expertise will construe good to CATO’s priorities, which see ensuring precocious standards for circuit operators, advocating for user protection and enhancing Canada’s outbound recreation competitiveness. The organisation gains not only her operational insights but besides her proven expertise to negociate world partnerships.

A Career Built Across Continents

Briata began her recreation profession pinch an Italian circuit operator, focusing connected FIT and leisure group travel. She later expanded into MICE, firm and cruise operations, gaining acquisition successful analyzable itinerary readying and multi-market coordination. Her profession has taken her crossed Europe, nan Middle East, nan Indian Ocean, Africa, Latin America, Asia and North America. These roles person fixed her a heavy knowing of divers markets, taste expectations and operational challenges. Her world web of manufacture partners positions her to thief CATO fortify its relationships pinch world tourism bodies and suppliers.

Leadership successful Educational Travel

Since 2008, Briata has worked successful acquisition travel, a assemblage that combines logistics expertise pinch a committedness to taste speech and learning. At WorldStrides, she is portion of nan elder guidance team, guiding operational strategy and merchandise delivery. Her domiciled has progressive adapting recreation programmes to changing world conditions, from economical shifts to evolving information requirements. Educational recreation requires meticulous attraction to detail, arsenic it involves young travellers and often aggregate destinations. This acquisition underscores her expertise to grip analyzable operational demands, a accomplishment highly valuable to CATO’s strategical vision.

A Global Perspective for Canadian Outbound Tourism

As a Canadian resident pinch European roots, Briata offers CATO a world outlook rooted successful section understanding. She is good placed to lend to discussions connected really Canada tin stay competitory successful outbound tourism. Her acquisition successful destinations crossed aggregate continents enables her to place trends, marketplace opportunities and imaginable risks. This position is captious for Canadian circuit operators looking to grow their scope and tailor offerings to nan expectations of world travellers. Her assignment signals CATO’s nickname of nan worth of genuinely world penetration successful its leadership.

Commitment to Industry Development

Brett Walker, Chair of CATO, emphasised that Briata’s “extensive world acquisition and unwavering committedness to nan recreation industry” would beryllium an plus to nan association. CATO plays a cardinal domiciled successful representing Canadian outbound circuit operators, advocating for adjacent regulation, promoting value standards and ensuring sustainability. Briata’s activity style, honed complete 30 years, will beryllium captious successful shaping initiatives that support some business maturation and ethical recreation practices. Her presence comes arsenic CATO continues to push for a strong, resilient and responsible outbound recreation sector.

Championing Sustainable and Responsible Travel

Briata’s assignment supports CATO’s ngo to beforehand responsible recreation practices. Sustainability is progressively cardinal to recreation manufacture strategy, and her way grounds shows a committedness to balancing business goals pinch biology and societal responsibility. She has managed operations successful destinations wherever tourism has some boosted economies and tested section resources, giving her penetration into really to support equilibrium. Her domiciled connected nan Board will apt impact advising connected initiatives that thief members adopt sustainable practices without compromising connected work value aliases profitability.

Voices from nan Industry

In her ain words, Briata described her assignment arsenic “a privilege” and said she was “honoured and proud to put my acquisition successful work of CATO.” She stressed nan value of being portion of a organization dedicated to shaping nan early of travel. This aligns pinch CATO’s ethos of collaboration and defense wrong nan industry. Her comments bespeak not conscionable a profession milestone, but besides a individual committedness to nan recreation organization she has served for decades.

The Role of CATO successful nan Canadian Travel Landscape

CATO represents circuit operators crossed Canada who specialise successful outbound travel. The relation useful pinch authorities bodies, manufacture partners and consumers to guarantee precocious standards successful service, information and ethics. By adding leaders for illustration Briata to its Board, CATO strengthens its sound successful nationalist and world conversations astir recreation argumentation and manufacture development. This assignment is portion of a broader strategy to align activity expertise pinch emerging world recreation challenges, from marketplace title to ambiance alteration adaptation.

Looking Ahead for Canadian Tour Operators

The assignment of Briata signals CATO’s attraction connected equipping its activity pinch divers skills and perspectives. Canadian circuit operators look a analyzable operation of opportunities and challenges, from technological invention to shifting traveller expectations. With Briata’s guidance, CATO tin amended position its members to navigate these changes while maintaining profitability and user trust. Her assignment is apt to power training, partnerships and defense priorities successful nan months ahead.

The summation of Paola Briata to CATO’s Board of Directors is much than a activity change; it is an finance successful nan association’s expertise to run connected a world stage. Her world expertise, operational spot and dedication to responsible recreation align pinch CATO’s mission. As outbound tourism from Canada continues to grow, her domiciled will beryllium to thief guarantee that maturation is sustainable, competitory and reflective of nan highest manufacture standards. This assignment reinforces CATO’s position arsenic a leader successful shaping nan early of Canadian outbound travel.