The China National Tourism Administration (CNTA) will host Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA’s) 60th Anniversary and Conference at China World Hotel in Beijing from April 9-12, 2011. The celebratory event will be the focal point of a series of anniversary activities commencing from this year’s PATA Travel Mart (PTM), to be held at the Venetian Macao-Resort-Hotel, Macao from September 14-17, and continuing through 2011. With the theme ‘Building Tourism: Past. Present. Progressive’, the anniversary activities will reflect on PATA’s past, as well as highlight its present and make strides towards a progressive future.

Zhu Shanzhong, Vice Chairman, CNTA said, “We are looking forward to working with PATA for a successful conference.”

Hiran Cooray, Chairman, PATA said, “With 60-years of history behind us, we want to take the opportunity to recall the contribution PATA has made to Asia Pacific tourism, while also looking ahead to consider what role PATA will play in the years to come. We are appreciative of CNTA’s support during one of the grand events in PATA’s history.”

Since its 1951 inception in Hawaii, PATA has grown from a group of like-minded travel professionals seeking to realise the potential of tourism in the Pacific region, to a global association representing the interests of the ever-growing, ever-exciting Pacific Asia tourism industry.

“Contributing to the sustainable development and success of the travel-and-tourism industry in the Pacific, as well as Asia, PATA has become the voice and authority on tourism in the region,” added Cooray.

The first of the anniversary activities to get underway, PATA’s ‘Face of the Future’ is an annual campaign which spotlights an individual who has worked to change or advance travel-and-tourism in the Asia Pacific. This year, to coincide with the 60th anniversary celebrations, ‘Face of the Future’ is being brought to the forefront by putting the power of the vote into the hands of its members.

Submissions for the campaign are already being accepted and voting will commence with the launch of a dedicated URL, www.PATA.org/PATA60, at PTM, which will be held at the Venetian Macao-Resort-Hotel, Macao from September 14-17, 2010. This sub-section of the main PATA site will become a one-stop information source for all 60th anniversary related activities and events. It will even include an online photography exhibition which, grouped by decade, will chart key people and events in PATA’s history.

Memories are also the theme of ‘My PATA My Story’, a commemorative book of stories about the travel industry over the past 60-years written by PATA lifetime and honoured members. The ‘progressive’ element, ‘Tomorrow’s Tourism Competition’ will ask tourism students at educational institutions around the region to contribute their ideas about how we can create a more sustainable future for our industry. One of the big themes of the future will be Green Tourism. This will be in the centre of the ‘Zero Footprint Challenge’, a competition which will be launched at the anniversary celebrations in Beijing, and seeks to highlight examples of tourism organisations who take their environmental responsibilities seriously.

The next 15-months will also see a number of PATA events and meetings, starting with PTM 2010 at the Venetian Macao-Resort-Hotel from September 14-17. Other highlights for 2011 include: the Adventure Travel and Responsible Tourism Conference and Mart in Nepal from February 7-11; the PATA Executive Board Meeting in Hawaii from February 18-19; the 60th Anniversary and Conference in Beijing from April 9-12; PTM 2011 in New Delhi from September 6-9 and the Pacific Asia Indigenous Tourism Conference in Darwin, Australia on September 27-30.