![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.travelpress.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Goway-Event-Photo-IAN_1024x768.jpg\")
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Goway’s first forum devoted entirely to Asia enabled travel agents to be updated on the likes of pandas, pagodas and pachyderms.<\/p>\n
The tour operator — which previously held similar events showcasing Africa and the Middle East — held its June 9 Asia Forum 2026 in Toronto, enabling hoteliers, tour companies and Goway itself to brief agents on what their clients can expect when visiting that continent.<\/p>\n
“We hope it’s going to become an annual event \u2026 Asia is wonderful, it’s complex, it’s rich…,” Moira Smith, who oversees Goway’s Asia program, told the crowded event.<\/p>\n
“We love talking about all things Asian.”<\/p>\n
Among presenters was Margie Aquino of DTH Malaysia, who noted that Borneo rainforest dates back over 130 million years, making the Amazon seem youthful in comparison.<\/p>\n
Among Malaysian wildlife are orangutans, the unusual-looking proboscis monkey and another creature that stands out because of its size. “Malaysia is the home of the smallest elephants, the pygmy elephants. They’re very cute,” Aquino said.<\/p>\n
Ulu Muda, found near the Thailand border, features the likes of sun bears and elephants, and has a large number of bird species, she continued.<\/p>\n
Aquino praised “vibrant” Kuala Lumpur and noted Malacca has UNESCO World Heritage Site status.<\/p>\n
Clark Hung of the Hong Kong Tourism Board said his destination is where “East meets West.”<\/p>\n
Hung said those who enjoy the Great Outdoors will appreciate Hong Kong, which has a large number of hiking trails.<\/p>\n
Hong Kong is also a festive part of the world, he continued.<\/p>\n
Hung added that Hong Kong now has 323 hotels, adding that it is “a destination that continues to evolve.”<\/p>\n
Kim Martin Rasmussen of EXO Travel — which has itineraries throughout Thailand — noted that that country is labelled the Land of Smiles. “Be prepared to smile back if you go to Thailand.”<\/p>\n
Martin Rasmussen noted that his company can enable visitors to see elephants, considered symbolic of the country. “When Westerners travel to Thailand, this is what they want to see.”<\/p>\n
His company offers clients offer “responsible” elephant visits, with those clients not allowed any physical contact with the mammals, he noted.<\/p>\n
EXO Travel sends people throughout Thailand, including northeastern-most Chiang Rai and James Bond Island, so named because it appeared in the James Bond movie The Man With the Golden Gun and has since become a popular tourist attraction.<\/p>\n
Patrick Chase of Destination Asia — which has tours in Indochina — noted that Hanoi offers both French architecture and “treasured historical sites,” while Vietnam’s scenic Ha Long Bay is “becoming super, super popular.”<\/p>\n
Saigon in turn has “beautiful French colonial architecture,” along with reminders of the Vietnam War, he continued.<\/p>\n
Tours that have visitors ride the backs of Vespas are available in Saigon, he noted.<\/p>\n
Chase said Cambodia has often simply been viewed as an add-on to Vietnam but has “become much more of a destination in itself.”<\/p>\n
The storied Cambodian religious site of Angkor Wat is “absolutely stunning,” Chase added.<\/p>\n
Chase also said the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh offers insights into Cambodia’s tragic Khmer Rouge era but has also become a “glitzy” city with “wonderful nightlife.”<\/p>\n
He also said Laos is often overlooked by travellers but is a great place to gather insights into Buddhism.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Goway’s first forum devoted entirely to Asia enabled travel agents to be updated on the likes of pandas, pagodas and pachyderms. The tour operator — which previously held similar events showcasing Africa and the Middle East — held its June 9 Asia Forum 2026 in Toronto, enabling hoteliers, tour companies and Goway itself to brief…<\/span>more ›<\/a>","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":209286,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"kia_subtitle":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[538,1,10],"tags":[1956],"front_page":[],"class_list":["post-209284","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-events","category-news","category-tour-operators","tag-goway"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.travelpress.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209284","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.travelpress.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.travelpress.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.travelpress.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.travelpress.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=209284"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.travelpress.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209284\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":209315,"href":"https:\/\/www.travelpress.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209284\/revisions\/209315"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.travelpress.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/209286"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.travelpress.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=209284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.travelpress.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=209284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.travelpress.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=209284"},{"taxonomy":"front_page","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.travelpress.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/front_page?post=209284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}