PATA 70th Anniversary: Looking Back from the Eyes of Luzi A. Matzig
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 the end of 2020), 119 members have been awarded this honour.
About Luzi A. Matzig
Luzi Matzig was born in St. Gallen, Switzerland and graduated from the Verkehrsschule St. Gallen, Switzerland with a major in Transportation.
He started his career working ground operations for Swissair in Zurich, Switzerland, followed by postings in London, UK, and Berne, Switzerland. He moved to Thailand in 1971 and worked for Diethelm Travel in Bangkok, where he served as General Manager. He was later promoted to Group Managing Director, with the responsibility for operations in Cambodia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Vietnam, and Yunnan, China.
He started his own company, Asian Trails Ltd., in September 1999 and held the position of CEO. The Asian Trails Group has 33 offices with 500-plus staff in Thailand, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, and Vietnam. Aside from managing Asian Trails, Mr Luzi was also involved in various ventures in the cruise and hotel industry, namely Cruise Asia Ltd., operating 3- and 6-night river cruises on the RV River Kwai (10 cabins) in Kanchanaburi, Thailand; the Paradise Ko Yao Resort and Treehouse Villas on Yao Noi Island near Phuket, Thailand; the Legend Chiang Rai Boutique Resort and Spa in Chiang Rai, Thailand; as well as SUNSET HOUSE and the 5-star The Royal Sands Koh Rong Resort in Cambodia..
Mr Luzi is also an avid aviation enthusiast: he established VIP Jets Ltd., an executive air transport that uses a Cessna Citation Mustang C-510 twin-jet to transport guests to destinations across Asia.
This would be the first PATA Travel Mart, which took place in Manila. It was a brand new event launched by Jerry Piccola that is now copied by many other organisations.
1977: East Asia Chapters meeting in Manila. This was where the PATA Travel Mart concept was accepted.
L/R: Beck Panillo, PATA Philippine Chapter Chairman; Jose Aspiris, Minister of Tourism Philippines; Akiko Kata, Japan Airlines PATA President 1978/79; Ed Johnston, PATA Executive Vice President; Jerry Picolla, PATA.
1978: The first PTM in Manila, Philippines.
L/R: Maj Henry Stanley, PATA Director Europe; Picolla, PATA VP; Ed Johnston, PATA EVP; Akira Kata, PATA President; Col Johannes Adnan, PATA Director for Asia.
This would be Former US President George Bush Senior, who delivered a keynote at the 1994 PATA Conference in Seoul.
1994: Annual Conference, Seoul.
Former US President George Bush delivering the keynote address at the annual conference in Seoul.
Several of the PATA Task Forces in the past have left a lasting impact.
My favourite would be networking with other PATA friends.
Story Time! A Hilarious Incident in PATA Annual Conference in Auckland, New Zealand:
The PATA Chair had to run away for the conference in Auckland in the middle of the night as he had been caught with his pants down.
