ADVENTURE AND ECO AGENTS LAUD SRI LANKA

The 13th and final PATA Adventure Travel & Ecotourism Conference & Mart closed here today with next year’s focus shifting to Singapore and Indonesia.

Next year’s PATA Travel Mart, to be held in Singapore, April 2002, will have a dedicated adventure travel seller zone. And the first PATA ecotourism conference will take place in Anyer in Banten province in West Java, Indonesia, in June/July 2002.

PATA Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Joseph A. McInerney, said: "There is a growing interest in the value of protecting the environment and leaving it as a legacy for our children. Therefore we plan to create a free-standing, self-sustainable ecotourism conference which will fill a void as there are no ecotourism conferences of a global nature held in Pacific Asia on a regular basis."

Mr. McInerney said the ecotourism conference would focus on practical examples and not on academic theory. Members of PATA’s responsible and sustainable tourism committee would serve as the programme committee for the event. "We can therefore tap into the enormous resources of PATA to make it a world-class conference," he said.

On the adventure travel side, Mr. McInerney said that incorporating the buying and selling of adventure products into PATA Travel Mart would expose Pacific Asia adventure suppliers to more buyers, especially from long-haul markets. In addition, he noted the move would allow some adventure sellers to benefit from the overlap with mainstream tourism.

Mr. McInerney told delegates at the Dambulla event in Sri Lanka that 13 years of PATA’s Adventure Travel & Ecotourism Conference & Mart had strongly raised awareness of adventure travel and ecotourism niche markets in Pacific Asia.

The Sri Lankan event took place at the isolated Kandalama Hotel on the forested shores of the Kandalama tank, a royal irrigation lake dating from the 3rd Century AD. As well as attending ecotourism presentations and the adventure travel buyer-seller sessions, delegates sampled elephant trekking, horse riding, bird watching, canoeing, mountain biking, and guided tours of the hotel’s outdoor flora and fauna museum, known locally as the Eco Park.

Mr. McInerney said it had been a remarkable setting for the conference. "There’s been a vibrant feeling among all participants. Many of them, including myself, have had their eyes opened by Sri Lanka. The host committee did an excellent job in providing a true ecotourism experience for all delegates.

"The event also allowed tour operators here to see the wide range of good quality hotel accommodation available in the Dambulla area."