PATA 70th Anniversary: Looking Back From the Eyes of Paul Casey
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 Paul Casey
Casey joined Hawaiian Airlines as President and CEO in 1997. He previously led the Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau for two years, ran Asia/ Pacific for Thomas Cook until it was sold to American Express, and spent eight years with Continental Airlines. He was given the additional role of Vice Chairman at Hawaiian Airlines in January 2001.
Under Casey's marketing and sales-oriented leadership, Hawaiian Airlines increased annual revenues by nearly 60 percent through operational growth and innovative marketing. After leaving Hawaiian, he operated a travel-related software company in Bangkok and ran an airline in Hawaii - Island Air - which was owned by Larry Ellison, who also owned the island of Lanai.
From 1985 to 1994, Casey served in several executive positions at Continental Airlines, including Vice President-International Division; Vice President-Pacific/Asia. At Continental Air Micronesia, he served as Chairman, President and CEO. Prior to joining Continental, he served from 1977 to 1984 in management positions throughout the Pacific for Pan Am. Highlights of Casey's career include the expansion of Continental's presence in Australia and Japan’s markets, as well as the addition of Continental routes to Korea (ROK), Chinese Taipei and the Philippines. He also was instrumental in guiding Continental's increased presence in the U.S. West Coast-Hawaii market.
He is currently an investor in a number of Hawaii-based tech startups and is a mentor to many of their founders.
This would be the Board Meeting, which I believe was in Monaco, at which the PRC came up for membership. There was a realisation that China was going to be a big player in both outbound and inbound tourism, but there was the Issue of changing the name of Taiwan to Chinese Taipei. Alwin Zecha spoke forcefully and eloquently for a very long time in favour of both the PRC joining and the name change for Taiwan. It was a very emotional meeting but the right decision was made.
1992: Inauguration of the PATA Chinese Chapter, Beijing.
L/R: Cui Nan of CNTA; Lakshman Ratnapala, PATA President and CEO; Liu Yi, Chairman of CNTA; Cheng Weng-dong, Vice Chairman of CNTA.
Margaret Thatcher in Hawaii really inspired me.
1993: 42nd Annual Conference, Honolulu, Hawaii.
Ambassador L.W. 'Bill' Lane presenting former UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, keynote speaker at the 42nd Annual Conference, with the first copy of 'The Story of the Pacific Asia Travel Association'.
This would have been the task force I was on with Neil Plimmer, Laurent Kuenzle, Charles Leon and Sim Kwok Chwee, of PATA which spent 14 days in Korea (DPRK) and produced a report of our recommendations to improve their tourism products.
Neil Plimmer (Left) and Park Chee Bok, Deputy Director-General of North Korea's National Tourism Administration.
The camaraderie we developed and the many friendships we made, which endure today. We were the pioneers of tourism development within, and to, Asia Pacific and gave a global voice to smaller and developing destinations. The names are too many to mention, but the world owes a debt of gratitude to people like Alwin Zecha, Sugahara-san, Inder Sharma, Joop Ave, Prabhakar Rana and many other giants of tourism for their drive to make PATA better and develop Pacific/Asia tourism.
Paul Casey and Dr. Mario Hardy at an event in October 2016.
