The Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) Travel Mart, scheduled to be held in the city from September 6 to 8, has run into rough weather with an advertisement by the association resulting in a controversy.
The print advertisement published by PATA is being accused of carrying a ‘distorted’ map of India.
The Bharatiya Janata Party was quick to hit back at the Congress government in the State. BJP’s Prakash Shesharaghavachar said, “The ad has compromised the borders of India. It appeared a month ago, but the government did not take note of it. It should apologise.”
Trying to diffuse the situation, R.V. Deshpande, Minister for Tourism and Higher Education, told The Hindu that the State’s Tourism Department had not spent a “single pie” on advertising the event. “The ad appeared in a Malaysian publication, not in India. We have absolutely no role in this and have not released any ad. We condemn this in strong words,” he said.
Adding that he spoke to the PATA CEO after learning about the controversy, Mr. Deshpande said he had insisted on the two parties keeping each other in the loop in future to avoid controversies.
“I told them that when an important ad was being published, it should have been brought to our notice. They should have at least consulted the Indian Embassy or the Ministry of External Affairs. They have now promised us that the advertisement will be withdrawn and rectified,” he said.
However, he maintained that there was no threat to the event itself, which is expected to boost the tourism potential of the State and pump in investments.
Said to be one of the three major travel marts in the world, PATA is coming to Bengaluru for the first time and for the third time to India. The PATA is a not-for profit association acting as a catalyst for the responsible development of travel and tourism to, from and within the Asia Pacific region.
