Park Hyatt Seoul General Manager Adrian Slater, left, newly appointed president of SKAL International Seoul, shakes hands with former president Paik Soon-suk, president of Sharp Inc., at the club's general meeting in Seoul, Jan. 13. / Courtesy of SKAL International Seoul

By Kim Rahn
Staff Reporter

Adrian Slater, general manager of Park Hyatt Seoul, has been selected as the head of SKAL International Seoul, a group of tourism professionals.

The organization appointed Slater as its new president for 2009 at its annual general meeting at Grand Hyatt Seoul in Seoul on Jan. 13.

SKAL, founded in 1934, is the world's largest organization of travel and tourism professionals, including hoteliers, travel agents, airline executives and tourism media. SKAL, a Scandinavian word meaning happiness, long life, good health and friendship, has 20,000 members in 500 branches called ``Clubs'' in about 100 countries.

The Seoul club also selected Promac Partnership President and CEO Robert Sohn as senior vice president; JW Marriott Seoul General Manager Robert J. Stark, Northwest Airlines General Manager-Korea David Ha, Hanyang University professor Cho Minho and Millennium Seoul Hilton General Manager Eric Swanson as vice presidents; and Travel Press Publisher Sho Jae-pil as Press and PR Director.

The Seoul branch will host the 38th SKAL Asia Congress in Incheon May 21 to 24, along with the ``2009 Visit Incheon Year.'' It also aims to hold the SKAL World Congress in Seoul in 2012.

rahnita@koreatimes.co.kr