(10/1/2007)
The 30th Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) Travel Mart was held in Bali September 25-28, 2007, at the Bali International Convention Center (BICC).
Attracting a record number of buyers and sellers from around the world and requiring additional tented space to accommodate 4,294 meters of exhibitor space, the Mart was officially opened by Indonesia's Vice-President Jusuf Kalla who echoed the popular sentiment that the hosting of the major travel event in Indonesia signaled the return of full-recovery to Bali's and Indonesia's travel industry following two tragic terrorist attacks.
Bali's Back!
PATA’s CEO, Peter de Jong, confirmed "Bali was back" saying: "We're very pleased that Bali has been well-received and its hotels are getting full again. It's even a problem getting rooms for some of our board members attending the meetings at the end of this week."
The Bali event's success following the succesful Mart last year in Hong Kong is also seen as a vindication of PATA's decision to return to a rotating program of international destinations within the Asia-Pacific region. That decision followed a hiatus that saw efforts to permanently base the event in Singapore flounder.
PATA Travel Mart 2008 will be held in Hyderabad, India in September 2008.
Shown on balidiscovery.com are some snap shots taken during a gala opening night for PATA Mart held at Bali's "Garuda Wisnu Kencana" Cultural Park.
Click Images to Enlarge
© Bali
Discovery Tours. Articles may be quoted and reproduced
if attributed to http://www.balidiscovery.com.
