As part of the celebrations of its upcoming 50th anniversary, the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) is holding a worldwide children’s poster contest. Each participating PATA chapter is to select the first and second place winners and submit the entries to San Francisco for judging.
The contest is open to entrants between seven and 12 years of age. The submissions must illustrate the theme of Pacific Asia travel and promote PATA’s 50th anniversary theme “Proud Past – Promising Future”. The worldwide winning entry will be used in a poster promoting PATA’s 50th anniversary, and all chapter-level winning artwork will be prominently displayed at the PATA Annual Conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia April 8-12, 2001. The first place worldwide winner along with a parent or guardian will be hosted to attend the conference and presented an award on stage.
Promotion announcements
PATA announced that Mr. John Koldowski’s new title will now be Managing Director-Strategic Information Center. According to PATA, The new title more accurately reflects the significance of the association’s Bangkok-based research body.
Ms. Michela Marcolina has been promoted to Director-Europe. She remains based in Monaco and continues to report to Mr. John Semone, Managing Director-Europe. Similarly, at the PATA Operational Headquarters in Bangkok, Ms. Paveena Olansuksakul has been promoted to Assistant Manager-Communications.
CEO makes first visit to Bangladesh
PATA CEO Mr. Joseph A. McInerney and Director-South Asia Mr. K. C. Sim visited Dhaka, Bangladesh recently. During the visit, Mr. McInerney met with HE Engr. Mosharraf Hossain, Minister of Civil Aviation & Tourism, and Mr. Abu Salleh, Chairman of the Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation. At another meeting with the PATA Bangladesh Chapter, PATA agreed to consult other countries such as India, Nepal, Myanmar and Bhutan on the possibility of greater regional cooperation leading to the formation of a regional forum.
Communicators’ workshop to be held in Bangkok
In conjunction with TIME Inc. Asia and the PATA Thailand Chapter, a PATA/TIME Communicators’ Workshop is to be held at the Grand Pacific Hotel in Bangkok on August 9-10, 2000. Geared for public relations and marketing professionals in the travel industry, the one and half day workshop will feature a keynote address by Mr. Daffyd Roderick of TIME Asia, a crisis communications seminar with Mr. Anthony Concil of the International Air Transport Association, a multi-media panel discussion and sessions on launching a product, measuring PR results and “Web spinning”.
JATA’s Japanese language Travel Information Center came on-line after a trial run in June. Until the end of May, the information service, introduced on April 3, 2000, was made available free of charge to all domestic JATA member companies. In addition to trying it out, member companies had an opportunity to register for the fee-based service when it became fully operational in June.
The JATA Travel Information Center was established at the JATA website to support travel-related industries by extending their capacity to provide client-oriented services. One of the strongest draws of the information center is the enormous speed at which information can be accessed and down-loaded, thanks to its high powered travel-related search engines.
JATA supports delegation to China
JATA gave its full-scale support to the Japanese government in sending 2,000 delegates to China recently. In advance of this, Transport Minister Toshihiro Nikai had visited China in January to confer with heads of state.
Representatives on both sides agreed on the immense importance of cultural contacts and the tourist trade for furthering Chinese and Japanese economic interests. Minister Nikai declared that the two countries were poised for a new age of Chinese-Japanese intercultural relations in which the tourist trade will play an increasingly significant role. To back these words with action, a 2,000-member strong delegation was dispatched to China to participate in a ceremony held in Beijing on May 20.
Visiting China this time, along with Transport Minister Nikai, were JATA Chairman Isao Matsuhashi and various representatives from the travel and airlines industries. Minister Nikai had called on JATA for assistance in setting up promotional campaigns to make up half of the projected 2,000 participants.