The Pacific Asia Travel Association UK & Ireland has taken on four more members and a new insurance partner.
The new members are specialist villa company CV Villas, New Zealand touring company Kirra Tours, luxury Thai resort TreeHouse Villas and Saudia Arabia tour operator M Zahid Travel.
They bring the number of Pata UK & Ireland’s members to 34.
The association’s new partner is travel insurance provider Battleface.
Pata UK & Ireland chairman Chris Crampton said: “It’s always great to welcome new members to the organisation, especially during such a challenging time and to offer a network of support.
“The addition of M Zahid Travel is testament to the growing interest in the fascinating destination of Saudi Arabia and Battleface bring really helpful insights and services in the travel insurance sphere, a product travellers will be keen to purchase more than ever.
“The addition of two luxury villa specialists is a reflection of the demand for luxury travel as this market leads the return to travel following Covid-19 – as echoed in our recent PATA Patterns research. Our trends data also suggests travellers are looking for destinations that offer incredible experiences in the big outdoors and therefore New Zealand touring specialist Kirra Tours is another welcome addition to the PATA family.”
Each year Pata hosts more than 30 separate events across the UK and Ireland. The number has increased substantially over the past five years and will rise further with new virtual training and networking events planned for members, said Crampton, who said this was one of the reasons Pata had become more attractive to join.
The new members said they hoped to increase their brand exposure by joining.
New member M Zahid Travel is a specialist in Saudi pilgrimage tours. Senior travel consultant Aamir Qureshi said: “The primary objective of Pata is the promotion and development of tourism, and advancement of the interest of members. The valuable insights, forecasts and analysis provided by Pata will help us to make better business decisions. It is also great place to gather detailed and up-to-date information about the travel industry. We want to take full advantage of this.”
Pata has different types of memberships, depending on the type of business. For travel agents, membership is free by signing up on the organisation’s website.