PATA 70th Anniversary: Looking Back From the Eyes of Dato’ Haji Azizan Noordin
The PATA Life Membership Awards is given to nominated members who satisfied at least 8 requirements, including: being an active member of PATA for at least 10 years, being active at various levels of PATA, such as Chapter, Divisional and/or Board levels, has been cited for the quality of his / her contribution in tourism, professionally and within the individual’s community, and more. As a general rule, except for unusual situations, only one award is given in this category each year.
In PATA’s 70 years of history (as of May 2021), 120 members have been awarded this honour.
About Dato’ Haji Azizan Noordin
Dato’ Haji Azizan Noordin is appointed as Chief Executive Officer of Langkawi Development Authority to oversee operation and management of Langkawi Development Authority with 3 strategic thrusts of tourism, investment and community development.
Dato’ Haji Azizan Noordin began his career in the tourism and hospitality industry with Tourist Development Corporation Malaysia, now known as Malaysia Tourism Promotion Board, as Tourist Officer in 1978. He has since served in various leadership roles including heading the Tourism Malaysia overseas offices in Seoul, Korea (ROK), and Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Dato’ Azizan Noordin retired from Malaysia Tourism Promotion Board (Tourism Malaysia) when he was the Deputy Director General (Promotion). He was responsible for overseeing the operations of the organisation and the promotional efforts of all 44 Tourism Malaysia overseas offices. He led Tourism Malaysia sales missions overseas and has been a key speaker at many international tourism seminars and conferences.
After 40 years in the civil service, Dato’ Azizan is still dedicated to servicing the country and public. His advancement from rank and file for the past 40 years had amassed a wealth of experience and knowledge that is indeed beneficial to the tourism industry.
He is a graduate of the MARA University Institute of Technology in Malaysia, and holds two Masters in Business Administration (MBA) from Oxford Learning Centre of Excellence and Institute of Technology in Australia.
My love story with PATA began 35 years ago when Kuala Lumpur became the host for the PATA Annual General Meeting and PATA Travel Mart for the second time in April, 1986. I had been with Tourism Malaysia for eight years at the time and I still remember the contagious buzz of excitement that radiated throughout the office, and the same feelings were echoed across the country. We were all looking forward to be part of the historic event.
Imagine my exhilaration when I was solely put in charge of bringing the fireworks technical team from Osaka, Japan. They handled the fireworks display during the welcome reception dinner, which was at the Parliament House’s Ground in Kuala Lumpur. The fireworks were sponsored by the Japanese as they were the next host for the PATA events.
To display the fireworks during the launching ceremony, I worked together with the Japanese technical team to light the fireworks on the hill at the nearby National Monument, which was situated about a half kilometre away from the grounds of the National Monument. The place was safely guarded by the security team; and from the hill we could see everything that was happening at the Parliament House.
We didn’t have mobile phones in those days so the only way to communicate between the team at the Parliament House and the team at the National Monument was with walkie talkies. As fate would have it, it rained that evening and everyone was a bit panicky but praying very hard that it would stop on time and fortunately, it did stop at about 8 PM. As we were waiting for the signal to start the fireworks, my walkie talkie batteries went dead.
Fortunately, we had made a special arrangement with the national radio and television station, Radio Televisyen Malaysia, to play classical music to accompany the fireworks display. This was to ensure that people who didn’t get to attend the welcome reception dinner could also enjoy the fireworks display while sitting inside their car and at the same time be serenaded with the classical music on the radio.
As we couldn’t use the walkie talkie, we had to take the cue from the classical music on the radio. As soon as the music started, we quickly light the fireworks and for 30 minutes, the night sky was lit up with colourful display of fireworks. The show ended with a static display of words – PATA OSAKA 1987.
That was my first involvement with PATA, thanks to the management who had given me the blessing and believed in my ability to handle that particular PATA event and to participate in various PATA events in the coming years.
I had attended a total of 21 PATA events during my time with Tourism Malaysia and Langkawi Development Authority until I fully retired in 2018.
1986: PATA Travel Mart, Kuala Lumpur.
Malaysia’s Minister of Trade, Industry and Tourism, Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah (right) visited the Mart, accompanied by TDCM Chairman, Khoo Kay Peng to meet PATA’s VP Marketing, Jerry Picolla.
Whenever I attended the PATA events, I would make sure that I followed every activity that had been organised including PATA Colloquium, PATA Students Chapter, Charity PATA Event, and even their pre- and post-tours, which enabled me to come across many speakers and VIPs over the years.
I was really captivated and immersed by the speech given by Her Royal Highness Princess of Jordan during the PATA Dinner, which was held in conjunction with the World Travel Mart in London in 2017.
Another figure that inspired me was Mr. Richard Quest, the CNN USA correspondent who personally gave me some good tips on tourism promotions..
Her Royal Highness, Princess Dana Firas of Jordan at PATA Sixth Aligned Advocacy Dinner, London, 2017.
After my first involvement with the PATA event in 1986, I participated in various other PATA events and over the years, I had acquired vast knowledge on how to organise PATA events and activities. In the year 2012, I was the Acting Director General of Tourism Malaysia when I was given the opportunity to organise the PATA Conference in Kuala Lumpur in April, 2012. The event was launched by the then Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia and who is now the current Prime Minister of Malaysia, Y.A.B. Tan Sri Muhyiddin Mohd Yassin. After my retirement, I became the Chief Executive Officer of Langkawi Development Authority and helped the prestigious Langkawi Island to win the bid to host the PATA Travel Mart on Sept 2018.
I have never failed to attend any other PATA events and meetings, which earned me the Life Member Award that was given to me during the PATA Annual Summit in Sri Lanka in 2017.
I was also awarded the Chairman Special Award at the PATA Annual Summit in Cebu, Philippines in 2019.
I felt honoured to be elected as Chairman of Destination Sub-Committee twice, as well as Vice Chairman of PATA briefly before my retirement in 2018.
Dato’ Haji Azizan Noordin receiving Life Member Award on PATA Annual Summit 2017 , Negombo, Sri Lanka.
L/R: Andrew Jones, then PATA Chairman; Dato’ Haji Azizan Noordin; Dr. Mario hardy, then PATA CEO.
Working in the national tourism office, I need to get inputs and reports from various foreign international sources in order to put up promotion and marketing strategies and also to understand what our competitors are up to. From the reports received through PATA, I obtained a lot of information on new strategies and also new products that existed in other countries that were also members of PATA.
This included ecotourism sector, MICE, leisure activities and also development of new projects. Over and above that, I always looked forward to get the reports on world tourism arrivals and the analysis, which contained important information that PATA should continue doing annually.
Besides that, I got to meet many PATA members from various countries, eventually expanding my network and maintain our friendship to these days.
On a final note, I would like to express my sincere thanks to Mr. Mario Hardy and Mr. Martin Craig, our former CEO, as well as the present PATA Chairman, Mr. Wong Soon Hwa and past Chairmen, which include Chris Bottrill, Sarah Matthew, Hiran Cooray, Joao Manuel Costa Antunes, Scott Supernaw, and Bill Calderwood. Last but not least, I would also like to convey my appreciation to my mentors, Tunku Dato’ Seri (Dr.) Iskandar Tunku Abdullah and the late Alwin Zecha, as well as the PATA Life Members, PATA Secretariat Staff in Bangkok, and all friends in PATA for their friendship and the support that they had given me.
Congratulations on the auspicious 70th Anniversary of PATA this year. I hope that PATA will continue to be a leading and significant organisation and platform in the international arena to promote tourism.
Story Time! An unforgettable moment in PATA Travel Mart, 2011:
There was one PATA event that was unforgettable because the organiser and the participants had to come face to face with natural disaster and somehow, managed to hold the event successfully until the end. It was in the year 2011 and the event was PATA Travel Mart, which was held in New Delhi, India. I remember that minutes before the ribbon cutting ceremony started, a bomb had exploded about five kilometres from the venue and on the same night a mild earthquake occurred. As if it wasn’t enough, heavy rains came pouring down early the next morning, and inevitably flooded the venue of the event. Fortunately, Malaysia’s PATA Booth was situated at the mezzanine floor and we managed to escape the flood. Resilient and strong – two words that perfectly describe this association.
