PATA 70th Anniversary: Looking Back From the Eyes of Elly Hutabarat
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 Elly Hutabarat
Mrs Hutabarat is currently the President Director at Pantravel, Chairperson at Ayuberga, General Sales Agent for the Saudi Arabian Airlines, Chairperson at Intrareps, Commissioner Emeritus of Coca Cola Amatil Indonesia and Commissioner of PAN Maritime Wira Pawitra - Shipping Company.
Further she was President of the Indonesia–Australia Business Council (2004–2006) and the ASEAN Tourism Association (2009-2011). Today Elly is still a Board Member of PATA and President both at the Association of Ticketing Agents in Indonesia (ASTINDO) and the Professional Certification Body-Air Transport Distribution Services and Agencies.
This would be the PATA Conference Bali in 2003, as it was the most challenging event. The world was at the end of the SARS outbreak and this event was also just months after the Bali Bombing in KUTA occurred. The Tourism Ministry was so worried that there would not be enough participants, but we managed to attract more than 1,500 people to attend.
It would have to be Alwin Zecha and Tunku Iskandar. Besides being my best friends, they also introduced me to destination management companies and taught our team how to run one. Our own company, Intrareps, was set up 15 years ago and Alwin was the one who came up with the name. My colleagues and I are forever indebted to Tunku Iskandar and the late Alwin Zecha.
The PATA Youth Programme is an initiative I felt really proud of.
I have friends around the world. The friendships we have been building amongst PATA members are second to none. I also enjoyed the benefits for my business. These opportunities opened up more ways for us to do our business.