Sho Becomes PATA Life Member
By Kim Rahn
Staff Reporter
A Korean tourism expert has been honored by being made a lifetime member of the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA), an international organization for the Asia-Pacific tourism industry.
Sho Jae-pil, editor and publisher of Travel Press, received the PATA Life Membership Award during the organization's 58th annual meeting held in Macau from April 17 to 21.
The life membership is the association's highest honor, given to an individual who has devoted at least 15 years of exceptional voluntary service to PATA and to the industry. Sho is the second Korean to receive the membership, following former Korea Tourism Organization head Oh Jae-kyeong.
``It is an honor to become a PATA life member as a representative of the Korean tourism industry. I'm proud of Korea, which has become one of the major travel markets with 6.8 million inbound and 13 million outbound travelers,'' Sho said.
Sho, the committee chair of PATA Travel Industry Council and a board member of the organization, has been actively working for the development of the tourism industry of Korea and the world.
For the last 30 years, Sho has publicized Korea by publishing brochures about the country's culture, history and major events such as 1986 Asian Games, 1988 Seoul Olympic Games and 2002 World Cup, and distributing them at PATA annual meetings and other international tourism conferences.
The government acknowledged his effort and granted him a presidential award in 2001 ― the first time for a senior tourism journalist. He also received the Best Travel Journalist Award at the Seoul Tourism Awards last year.
He also earned the PATA Excellent Media Award in 1984, Mark Twin Travel Journalism Award in 1991 and PATA Travel Journalism Award in 2001.