PATA embraces adventure and spirituality in Rishikesh
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The recently concluded PATA Adventure Travel and Responsible Tourism Conference and Mart 2019in Rishikesh, Uttarakhand, India witnessed a good response from adventure tour operators. “The event aims to be a catalyst for generating new ideas and improving collaboration between public and private sector organizations,” Mario Hardy, CEO, PATA said.
“By bringing together such a dynamic and diverse group of speakers, we hoped to highlight the need to discuss, analyse and share various ideas with both the public and private sector in planning, building and promoting a responsible travel and tourism industry,” he added.
Organised by the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) and hosted by the Uttarakhand Tourism Development Board, the event was attended by 300 delegates from 28 countries.
The conference was opened by Dilip Jawalkar, Secretary Tourism, Religious Affairs and Culture Department, Government of Uttarakhand; Suman Billa, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Tourism, Government of India; Yogendra Tripathi, Secretary, Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, and Satpal Maharaj, Honourable Minister of Tourism, Uttarakhand.
The B2B mart welcomed 47 seller organisations from 10 destinations (Bhutan, China, India, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal and Thailand) and 44 buyer organisations from 18 source markets (Australia, Bulgaria, Canada, China, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Republic of Korea, Poland, Russia, Singapore, Spain, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom and the USA).