PATA sticks to Bali venue

PATA sticks to Bali venue

JAKARTA: The annual meeting of Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) will be held in Bali next April as planned, despite last October's terrorist attack on the island that claimed 190 lives, mostly Western tourists, a PATA official said Wednesday.

"The participants insisted on holding the meeting here," said I.B. Ngurah Wijaya, a member of the PATA organizing committee.

More than 2,000 PATA members are expected to attend the annual meeting scheduled for April 13 to 17, he said.

"They will discuss tourism issues in the Asia-Pacific region, including terrorism," Wijaya told the state-run Antara news agency.

PATA is deemed the leading tourism industry organization in the Asia-Pacific region.

There had been talk of holding PATA's annual meeting elsewhere following last October's terrorist attack on two entertainment spots in Kuta, Bali, that killed at least 190 people and shattered the island's reputation as a peaceful tropical paradise. -- DPA