PATA Set To Bring Two Koreas And Two Continents Together

Anindita Chattopadhyay - New Delhi

The 53rd Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) conference to be held in the Jeju Island, Korea (ROK) from April 18-20, 2004, will be witness to a couple of firsts in the PATA history. For the first time, the convention will go hi-tech linking two continents Asia and North America through an audio-visual satellite feed and take the initiative to bridge the gap between two Koreas.

Talking to Express Travel & Tourism Ram Kohli, chairman-elect PATA said, "This is in tune with PATA's plan to provide member countries exposure to international seminars as well as use tourism as a tool of peace. Through an audio-visual satellite feed more than 50 guests of the PATA Hawaii Chapter and the University of Hawaii School of Travel Industry Management on Oahu Island, Hawaii will participate in a plenary session about tourism investments at Jeju convention on April 20. And also we are hopeful North Korea will participate at the convention."

The plenary session will facilitate a dialogue between investors, governments and hotel companies and will highlight issues including public-private relationships in tourism investments, the primary sources of tourism investment funds in Asia Pacific, hot sectors and destinations for tourism investment and business models offering biggest returns on investment.

Even the selection of the keynote speaker reflects the importance PATA is giving to technology. Anna Pollock, CEO of DestiCorp, a company that provides e-commerce consultancy services and distributes web-based technologies to tourism destinations, tourism providers and destination marketing companies, will deliver the keynote address. While the theme of this year's convention 'Tourism is Everybody's Business' will address the reasons why everybody has a stake in tourism, no matter what their goals are - economic, social, financial, environmental, cultural or political.

As tourism is bouncing back to normal levels, organisers are in a buoyant mood. This year, "We are expecting the participation of around 1400-1500 delegates at the convention," said Kohli.