The Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) is a membership association working to promote the responsible development of travel and tourism in the Asia Pacific region.
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The association began in 1951[1] when Lorrin P. Thurston, president of two major daily newspapers in Honolulu, and William J Mullahey of Pan American Airways set about organising the first Pacific area travel conference with the aim of promoting tourism to the largely undiscovered region of Asia Pacific.
The purpose of the meeting, Thurston noted, was to “discuss cooperation among Pacific countries that would result in a greater exchange of visitors to their mutual advantage, and to develop methods of presenting the Pacific area to the world’s travellers and the travel trade by reducing restrictions on Pacific travel, filling in accommodation gaps, and presenting the Pacific story in advertising and publicity”.[1]
In March 1951, invitations were sent out for the conference, which was to be held in the first week of June, from the office of Hawaii's territorial governor, Ingram Stainback. Unfortunately many of the replies came in too late and the conference was postponed.
It was then in October 1951 that Thurston, who was in Paris attending a European travel conference, issued his now-famous cable to Mullahey: "Proceed to send invitations to governments and carriers to attend Pacific Area Travel conference for purpose of establishing permanent Pacific Travel Association and determine most convenient date for majority during first three months 1952."
The inaugural conference eventually took place from January 10–15, 1952 at the Maluhia Auditorium of Fort DeRussy in Waikiki, Hawaii. There were 91 delegates in attendance at the conference, including representatives of government and business. Aside from Thurston and Mullahey, those taking a key role at this event were: Robert Allen, chairman of registration and housing; Melvin A. Conant, chairman of conference organisation; Harry Dove, chairman of counselor liaison; John Pugh, co-chairman of entertainment; John Jay Murphy, co-chairman of program and protocol; William O. Cogswell, Sam N. Mercer and Steward E. Fern of the Hawaii Visitors Bureau, and Milton O. Holst of Holst & Cummings, Lrd.
On Tuesday, January 15, 1952, Lorrin Thurston announced that 25 active and 12 allied members had signed the constitution and bylaws of what was now known as the Pacific Interim Travel Association (PITA). PITA was legally incorporated in the state of Hawaii two months later.
The new association’s constitution declared its purpose was “To encourage and assist in the development of the travel industries throughout the Pacific area”. While marketing activities were its primary goal, the delegates of the first conference also envisioned the association as one that could work with both government and private business in developing travel.
One of PITA’s main accomplishments in its first year was to publicise itself to the international travel community. The association’s first executive director Sam Mercer noted that the first conference “focused the attention of the entire travel world on an awakening of tourism in the Pacific” [1]. News articles and press releases were sent to, and subsequently published in, numerous publications – including both specialist travel press and general audience newspapers. A particularly effective vehicle for PITA’s self-promotion was its quarterly newspaper, PITA News Bulletin, which by the end of its first year was being sent to over 500 addresses throughout the world.
In its first year, PITA also worked with governments to ease entry and exit requirements for foreigners, seeing success in Japan, the US and the Philippines.
By the second conference in March 1953 (held in Hawaii like the first) PITA had increased its membership from 33 active and allied members to 49. It was also at this conference that it was decided to change the association’s name to the ‘Pacific Area Travel Association’ – or PATA.
In 1953 PATA’s headquarters were moved from Hawaii to San Francisco, with Sam Mercer serving as the first executive director. Considered as the sate of “money and influence”, San Francisco was home to an influential group of individuals who served on the PATA board and committees during the 1950s and 1960s.
Throughout the first decade, PATA membership grew steadily, attracting a wide range of members including governments, carriers, hotel members, travel agents, cruise lines and the media. Other members eventually included tour operators, educational institutions, vehicle operators, restaurants and catering services, advertising agencies, public relations firms, publications, banks and architectural and research firms.
By the end of the 1950s, PATA had 325 members, while there had also been a steady rise in the annual conference attendance. In 1955, a Research and Survey Committee was established and PATA delegates gave their approval to spend US$8,000 on the organisation’s first advertising programme. In 1957 the first issue of Pacific Travel News (PTN) was published, providing PATA with a news vehicle to promote itself and its destinations.[1]
In 1958, PATA's Board of Directors requested that the US International Cooperation Administration provide US $150,000 for a comprehensive study of the Pacific countries. The results of the survey, which became known as the 'Checchi Report', were presented at the 1962 Annual Conference. It presented to PATA members and NTOs the status of tourism in the Pacific region, both area-wide and individually by country. It contained information regarding the anticipated impact of tourist expenditure, the effects of tourism on jobs and wages, methods of financing tourism development and projections for US visitor arrivals to the Pacific region. The report quickly became a blueprint for many NTO and travel planners, as it methodically presented the economic benefits – both direct and indirect – derived from tourism.[1].
1961 saw the establishment of the first PATA Chapters in New Zealand and Hong Kong. The development of the chapter system was an effort to involve professionals in the travel and tourism industry who could not participate in PATA’s activities or attend annual conference and workshops, and to expand PATA’s presence in previously untapped markets.[1].
The 1960s also witnessed PATA's first move towards promoting education and training, helping to set up the School of TIM (Tourism Industry Management) at the University of Hawaii – the first such institution to be established in the region.
At the 23rd Annual Conference, held in Jakarta in 1974, it was decided that there should be a change of emphasis in PATA's function to enable more support for the developmental aspects of tourism within in the Pacific area, particularly in industry, education and training.[1] Members stipulated that a new, permanent body be formed, with the name 'Development Authority'. This advisory body would be composed of experts from diverse backgrounds and specialisations, whose purpose would be to carry out the association's intentions towards heritage conservation, education and training, and environmental enhancement.
At its second meeting in August 1974, the newly-formed Development Authority accepted its first assignment. It followed a request from Lieutenant General Chalermchai Charuvastr, Director General of the Tourist Organisation of Thailand (TOT), to PATA executive director Marvin Plake to help increase tourism in Thailand. The TOT Director General proposed Chiang Mai as an ideal location for the development of tourism and so PATA sent a travel trade mission - or 'task force' as they later became known - to the northern city. The task force completed its mission in February 1975. Its report "Chiang Mai: A Program or Expanding the Airport" contained a two-stage list of recommendations and addressed the areas of sight-seeing attractions, marketing, air service, air cargo, airport development, community relations and statistical record-keeping.
The years following the task force saw visitor arrivals to Chiang Mai increase, however there was still a relatively poor showing in foreign arrivals. PATA dispatched a second task force team to the city in 1977 where, amongst other issues, they considered the economics of international air service there. Their report "Chiang Mai, The Introduction of International Air Service", contained both short and long-term recommendations which were submitted to TOT. The Thai government later implemented a development plan for Chiang Mai largely based on PATA's blueprint.
The 1970s also saw the first ever PATA Travel Mart in Manila (1978). The highly successful and popular event was the brainchild of then-PATA Staff Vice President Gerald Picolla, who saw the potential of such marts to generate huge volumes of business for participating member organisations at a fraction of the cost of doing business on the road.
In 1984 the PATA Board of Directors approved the creation of the PATA Foundation, creating a new role for the association as a benefactor of culture and heritage policy by administering project funding. Under the leadership of its first chair, George Howling, the foundation began securing funds for education, research and heritage conservation.[1] The foundation sought assistance from PATA Chapters in carrying out is work, including the production of professional papers on handicraft preservation, area-wide inventories of heritage assets, and conservation programs for endangered wildlife. At first larger projects were targeted, but the focus then turned to small projects as it enabled the foundation to distribute its assistance more efficiently and effectively. For example, in 1988, the foundation funded the inventory and architectural record-keeping of historic buildings for a historic district preservation project in Pokhara, Nepal.
1986 saw PATA change its name from Pacific Area Travel Association to Pacific Asia Travel Association to reflect the ever-increasing importance of Asia in commerce and world affairs.
The first World Chapters Congress in 1989 attracted 250 delegates from 58 chapters with ‘Teamwork Toward Success’ as the theme.
With tourism to PATA member countries booming, concerns began to grow about environmental, cultural and heritage preservation. At the 1991 Annual Conference in Bali, PATA's 40th, there was a call from over 1,500 delegates from more than 50 countries to promote ecologically responsible travel and tourism under the conference theme 'Enrich the Environment'. This occasion marked the beginning of PATA's role as an 'authoritative' voice for sustainable tourism in the Pacific Asia region and in January 1992, the PATA Board of Directors approved the PATA 'Code for Environmentally Responsible Tourism' and it was officially adopted at the Annual Conference in Hong Kong later that same year.
Further environmental efforts came in 1994, when PATA's Green Leaf program was launched, with the aim of encouraging members to incorporate CERT (Code for Environmentally Responsible Tourism) into their operations. It became a centerpiece of PATA’s initiatives in the area of sustainable tourism, but was later integrated into the WTTC-run Green Globe programme in 2000.
New events in the 1990s included the first PATA Adventure Travel & Ecotourism Conference and Mart in Pokara, Nepal, as well as the PATA/WTO Human Resources for Tourism Conference in Bali, Indonesia.
Following the Gulf War, PATA created the Accelerated Marketing Program (AMP), designed to support member destinations affected by conflict.
After intense discussions and negotiations, the China National Tourism Administration (CNTA) joined PATA as a government member in 1992.
The end of the decade - 1998 - saw PATA relocated its head office from San Francisco to Bangkok to be in the heart of its membership region.
In 2003 PATA launches Project Phoenix, a global consumer communications campaign to re-invigorate travel and tourism in Pacific Asia. It came in response to the battering the travel industry and economies in the region had taken due to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the US, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the Bali bombs and SARS. This year also saw PATA adopt the ‘Allied Partner’ concept, inviting local, regional and national tourist bodies outside PATA’s geographic region to gain access to Asia Pacific’s outbound markets.
2004 saw PATA change its Mission Statement to include tourism ‘to, from and within’ Asia Pacific, thereby recognizing the importance of the region as a growing outbound market.
Following the December 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami, PATA launches a relief fund.
In 2005 the PATA Board of Directors approve an amendment to the association’s Mission Statement to reflect concerns for responsible tourism.
With the support of CNTA, the PATA Beijing Office is set up in 2007 – the first travel related international organisation officially registered in China.
In 2008 PATA provides crisis communication training to Chengdu’s tourism industry just one month after the Sichuan earthquake, while the PATA Foundation grants a post-crisis Fund for Sichuan.
In 2010 PATA launched the Travel Intelligence Graphic Architecture (TIGA) initiative to enable better decision making by tourism professionals.
On 17 September 2010, it was announced that current CEO Greg Duffell would leave PATA by February 2011 after just 18 months in the role [2]
2011 will see PATA celebrate its 60th anniversary with a series of activities and events focused around the theme 'Building Tourism. Past.Present.Progressive'. On September 6-9, PATA Travel Mart 2011 will be held at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi, India.