WILL PATA REGAIN PAST GLORY

Imtiaz Muqbil Twenty years ago, the Pacific Asia Travel Association, PATA, was the pre-eminent travel industry organisation of the Asia Pacific, recognised as its primary authority and “voice”. Its membership totalled a formidable 2,060 in 1994. Its annual conference was the place to be for marketing, networking, research and lobbying. Cities queued up to bid for the annual conference and travel mart. Its statistical research was considered the foremost source of data on regional trends. Today, that is no longer the case. Paid membership is reported to be in the vicinity of 500. The emerging generation of industry members has never heard of it. Can PATA regain its former glory? This question will loom high between April 19-22 at PATA’s AGM and annual conference in Malaysia, a country that has hosted three previous such events at various cutting-edge periods in the history of the association and the Asia-Pacific. Under the theme “Building the Business Beyond Profits”, PATA is positioning the annual conference as an opportunity to share “successful managerial and entrepreneurship business models and principles.” But it has yet to prove the success of its own business model. A flurry of PATA Press releases in recent weeks is designed to show that it has reinvented itself as a new, improved association. Unfortunately, PATA press releases have lost credibility; they were trying to paint a upbeat picture even when the association was heading downhill. Indeed, PATA is a long way from proving that it has learnt from its own past mistakes. How it responds to the issues and challenges raised in the analysis below will determine whether PATA again becomes the leading organisation it once was or remains the mediocre grouping it is now. Three years ago, it was precisely such probing reports by Travel Impact Newswire and TTR Weekly that uncovered the truth and forced much-needed change in PATA. Whether by its own members or the media, that pressure must continue. Read more: http://www.travel-impact-newswire.com/2012/04/will-pata-regain-its-past-glory/#ixzz1slhKychn