PATA 70th Anniversary: Looking Back From the Eyes of Lakshman Ratnapala (1934-2021)
Former PATA President & CEO, 1992-1997
This is a special episode in honour of the late Lakshman Ratnapala, who has passed away on Wednesday, September 8. The entire PATA family sends its sincere condolences to the family and friends of Mr Lakshman Ratnapala.
What the industry said about Lakshman Ratnapala:
“… Ratnapala converted PATA from a regional outfit to a global tourism powerhouse by expanding its reach and clout in the councils of the world.“ - Alwin Zecha (1936-2019), two-term former PATA Chairman; Life Member 1989
“… an international tourism icon who, for 50 years, roamed the world encouraging national tourism leaders to deliver authentic, sustainable experiences“ - Michael Paulin, former PATA Chairman; Life Member 1998
“Lakshman Ratnapala has invested his life synthesising travellers perceived myths from reality. Over his tenure, tourism to Pacific-Asia flourished, led by initiatives he fostered in environmental sustainability and cultural authenticity. Lakshman afforded me the opportunity of learning how to navigate through cultural diversity and hard-line differences in order to achieve PATA’s goals. He is a student of logic and in another life would have been a brilliant international attorney. He taught me the value of remaining deferential while not patronising and other insights into the Asian mentality rarely discernible to Westerners. His persistence and positive attitude turned around an organisation burdened with debt, by making membership valuable. Today Ratnapala focuses his unique perspectives on his native Sri Lanka’s rich, historical anthropology wrapped in the fascinating treasury of its legends and myths. His years of experience communicating the virtues of other nations’ cultural attributes provide an ideal sequel to explore Sri Lanka’s own rediscovery of itself to become a leading destination for cultural tourism.“ - Michael Paulin, former PATA Chairman; Life Member 1998
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 Lakshman Ratnapala
Since 1997: PATA Life Member
1992 - 1997: President & CEO, PATA
1991 - 1992: Vice President, Asia, PATA
1984 - 1991: Vice President, Membership & Chapters, PATA
1980 - 1984: Director of Chapter Services, PATA
1975 - 1979: Sri Lanka’s Director of Tourism
1975 - 1979: For The Americas, Based in New York City
1976 - 1979: Vice Chair of PATA NY Chapter
1976 - 1979: Chairman of ANTOR New York
Lakshman Ratnapala was a teenaged undergraduate at the Ceylon Law College when he earned his spurs in journalism as a sub-editor. He was one of the first journalists in the world to tour China and Korea (DPRK) as early as 1958, having, one year earlier, climbed to the top of Sri Lanka's Sigiriya with Chinese Premier Zhou En-lai. He joined Shell/BP of Ceylon Ltd, in 1960 as its Public Relations Manager, and upon nationalisation of the oil companies in 1963, he joined the Government Information Department as a Press Officer serving the Ministry of Agriculture & Food to launch the so-called 'green revolution' to ensure its self-sufficiency in rice.
In 1965, he was assigned to the Ceylon Broadcasting Corporation as its News Director. In 1971, he was about to leave for London on a Colombo Plan Scholarship, sponsored by the Thompson Foundation to the University of Cardiff, when he was told on the phone by the Director-General of Broadcasting to report to 'Temple Trees' immediately. An agitated Prime Minister, Mrs Bandaranaike told him to return to the SLBC and assume the role of News Monitor (i.e. Censor), as the first JVP insurrection had broken out causing an existential threat to the Government. Having survived the insurgency, he saw an opportunity to be with one of his first loves, nature conservation, and joined the Wildlife Conservation Department as an Assistant Director and edited its very popular wildlife journal. He assisted in setting up the elephant orphanage at Pinnawala and the creation of the Horagolla Sanctuary noted for its rare wet zone fauna and flora.
In 1972, a confluence of politics, pride, and prejudice saw Ratnapala posted to New York as Sri Lanka’s Tourism Director for North and South America. There, he embraced the work ethics of the New World and worked hard to introduce to the American public the island with an unfamiliar new name and a socialist government located at the other end of the world. He was elected Chairman of New York PATA Chapter and Chairman of ANTOR. He then introduced a new concept of joint advertising with tour operators to market Sri Lanka along with KLM and Swissair tour programs, forcing the initially reluctant Air India to come on board.
In 1980 he was headhunted to the world’s biggest travel industry organisation, the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA), as its first Director of Chapter Services. Ratnapala rose from that position to Vice President of Membership and Vice President of Asia, where
Lakshman Ratnapala’s tenure in PATA saw tremendous growth and expansion: the Chapter network expanded to 100 cities across the world reaching Africa, South America, Eastern Europe, and West Asia for the first time. The Russian Federation, China, Vietnam, Mongolia, Bangladesh, and Myanmar also joined PATA. In addition to the new PATA Asia Office, he opened another regional office in Japan and the new European Office in Monaco.
New programmes such as the PATA Chapters’ World Congress, PATA Asia Business Forum, Adventure Travel Mart, Technology Conference, and PATA Education Forum were launched during his tenure and all turned profits. PATA Annual Conferences drew keynote speakers of the caliber of President George H.W. Bush and Baroness Margaret Thatcher. He restructured PATA to be more sensitive to the needs of smaller members, whilst setting up two annual scholarships for Asian, particularly South Asian, students at the Executive Development Institute in the University of Hawaii, himself joining the teaching faculty whenever invited. Through all the external political crises and financial downturns, he adamantly refused to reduce staff numbers or cut their wages. His great achievement was that he held PATA membership dues unchanged throughout his five-year tenure. He also organised the PATA Education Authority and created the PATA Strategic Intelligence Centre. Ratnapala, through his innovative management style, turned around PATA's finances from operational losses at the time he took over to a US $3 million-plus when he opted for early retirement. PATA membership surged past 2200. He was awarded PATA’s highest honour, the PATA Life Membership in 1997.
Seeing the future potential of China, Ratnapala worked very hard behind the scenes to admit China to PATA membership over the objections of powerful global vested interests. The last 'farewell' PATA conference that Ratnapala organised at the China World Trade Center in Beijing, 1997 drew a record crowd of over 3000 overflowing to the corridors to listen to Chinese Premier Li Peng's keynote address.
Upon taking early retirement at the end of his first 5-year term, Ratnapala remained in the US volunteering his services in executive capacities to a number of organisations: Treasurer of the California Heritage Council, President of the San Francisco Foreign Travel Club (FTC), President of the SF Bay Area Travel Writers (BATW), President, Executive Service Corps (ESC) of SF, and Chairman of the International Committee of the American Red Cross, Bay Area (ARCBA). Ratnapala used these contacts to promote Sri Lanka, holding presentations at his own expense.
Mr. Lakshman Ratnapala returned to Sri Lanka in 2017. He has since published three books available at Vijitha Yapa Bookshops and online at Amazon and was in the process of publishing two more. He gifted half his valuable library to his alma mater, St. Thomas' College, Mt. Lavinia, and set up a Charitable Fund for health care and education of deserving children.
At the time of his passing, Ratnapala was serving as the Chairman of ENELAR International, providing advisory services on environmental and cultural conservation and destination marketing to governments, airlines, and corporate offices of hotel chains.
My most memorable PATA event was the 46th PATA Annual Conference in 1997 in Beijing, China. It was, and remains to this day, PATA's greatest triumph, its finest hour in the best of times at the peak of PATA’s global influence, reach, and clout. It was a historic first for both PATA and the host destination.
It was modern China’s coming out party, showcasing its ancient heritage to the movers and shakers of world tourism, launching the destination’s very first ‘Year of Tourism,’ proclaimed by President Jiang Zemin. For PATA, it was the biggest gathering ever, with over 3,500 delegates gathered at the China World Hotel in Beijing to hear Premier Li Peng’s inspiring speech at the spectacular opening ceremony of the Annual Conference. The three PATA’s major events, the 9th PATA Chapters World Congress in Shanghai, the 19th PATA Travel Mart, and the 46th Annual Conference, were held back-to-back, each of which had broken attendance records.
There, we had an informal meeting seated on a bench under a tree in the back garden of the Sheraton Conference Center to discuss ways that PATA's global marketing reach could assist China's then-nascent travel industry to enter the international marketplace. I asked Chairman Liu for three things: 1) that he bid for the next available slot to host the PATA Annual Conference; 2) that he ensures no other travel industry organisation will be allowed to hold an international event in China until we held the PATA Conference; and 3) that he, meanwhile, setup a PATA Chapter in China. He promptly agreed and without a spoken word, we clasped hands to seal the "pact". This was the genesis of the historic first PATA Conference in China. By the time the Conference rolled around four years later, a PATA Chapter had been formed in Beijing, despite Mr Liu having been replaced by Mr He Guangwei as Chairman of CNTA. The latter was a man of great charm, with whom I formed a close bond as we worked hard to make the Conference the success it was.
I have attended most PATA Conferences since the PATA Silver Jubilee Conference in 1976 in Hawaii until the Conference in Sri Lanka in 2017. All these Conferences were addressed by people of repute: royalty, presidents and prime ministers, bureaucrats, and technocrats. All were inspirational in one way or another and have given me valuable insights into what tourism can do to help the peoples of our countries lead a better life. Of this galaxy of people, the most inspirational to me was George H.W. Bush who addressed the 43rd PATA Annual Conference in Seoul, Korea (ROK), in 1994 during which he called PATA ‘an agent of change’ and ‘a messenger of peace. ‘
Mr Bush was the only Head of State in the 70 year history of PATA to have keynoted a PATA Conference. His praise for PATA was for our leadership role in paving the way for PATA membership of Cambodia, China, Mongolia, Myanmar, Korea (DPRK) and Vietnam - destinations which hitherto had limited access to the world of tourism.
How George H.W. Bush was selected to be the keynote speaker in Korea (ROK) in 1994 is in itself an interesting story. In the months preceding the Conference, the Korean peninsula was making the headlines as an area of great political turmoil, with the two sides engaged in sabre rattling.
I decided that if we were to have the conference in Korea (ROK) it should be promoted with an internationally well-known person who would bring a feeling of political stability. I suggested several names such as Gorbachev, the former Soviet leader, and Michael Eisner, head of the Walt Disney Company.
However, the Korea (ROK) Host Committee was opposed to these and suggested Hillary Clinton or Princess Diana. I felt obliged to oppose these names on the grounds that Hillary would be too controversial and Diana could not be expected to address the Conference theme in depth. The Koreans finally enthusiastically endorsed my next suggestion of George H.W. Bush, although I realized that I had no way of reaching him or of paying the still unknown high speaker fee, which I was sure he would ask for, or of securing hotel accommodations and first-class air tickets for him, his wife, and six of his retinue of security personnel. But let me not digress, as that was an entirely different story. Suffice it to say that I made the right contacts and made all arrangements without committing a single cent of PATA's funds.
I was not able to be present at the airport to greet Mr and Mrs Bush on arrival in Seoul, as I had to be in Jeju that evening for the closing ceremony of the PATA Travel Mart. However, I rushed back to Seoul at the first opportunity and, together with my wife Barbara, called on the Bush's at their hotel suite. As I knocked on the door, Mr Bush opened it and after the initial greeting I introduced my wife, saying, "Sir please meet my wife, Barbara," whereupon he threw his arms up in mock surprise and exclaimed, "Oh another one of those!" At about the same time, Mrs Barbara Bush appeared at the door and cordially greeted us. Mrs Bush took my wife, Barbara, to a settee in the living room while President Bush and I sat in the opposite corner of the living room. After a brief chat, he pulled out his proposed speech to be delivered the following day and asked me to go through it and make any corrections. I noted that he had written my name as 'Rotnapala,' and not 'Ratnapala.' I pointed it out to him, at which he explained, “That's the way we Americans spell it." I responded by saying, "I know you Americans are hopeless at spelling". He frowned at me and raised his eyebrows, whereupon I explained, "Sir, after all, your Vice President, Dan Quayle could not spell potato." Realising the joke was on him, he laughed aloud.
Before my courtesy call ended, I took the opportunity to brief him about the struggle we had to admit China to PATA and the work we had initiated to convince Korea (DPRK) to join PATA. I mentioned the PATA philosophy of friendship with all nations and my personal belief that it is better to resolve conflicts through dialogue and that the cause of world peace is better served by inviting our adversaries to join us, rather than leave them out in the cold. It was this conversation, I believe, that motivated President Bush to call PATA 'an agent of change' and 'a messenger of peace' in his keynote address to the PATA Conference the next morning.
The Public Relations Task Force to Sri Lanka was not the only PATA project that made me proud of being associated with the organisation. There were many others, such as the expansion of the PATA Chapter network from around 35 when I joined PATA in 1980 to around 100 Chapters when I left in 1997, making it the world’s most influential sales force of volunteers in the world. I was also responsible for creating the PATA Chapters World Forum, of which I was immensely proud. There were other projects, such as the opening of the PATA Asia Division Office in Singapore, the Europe Division Office in Monaco, PATA Representation in Tokyo, Japan, and the creation of the first-ever PATA Education Authority with Dean Chuck Gee as Chairman.
It gave me great pride and joy to bring to fruition such diverse projects as the PATA Strategic Intelligence Center, the PATA Asia Business Forum, the PATA Adventure Travel Mart, the PATA Youth Forum, the launching of the PATA Green Leaf Programme, and others too numerous to mention. However, the achievement that gives me the greatest pride of all is the fact that I returned PATA from deficit to a two-million-dollar surplus, froze membership dues for an unprecedented all five years of my tenure as President despite an enormous Asian financial crisis, capped project fees, reduced staff and expanded membership bringing in destinations such as China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar and Korea (DPRK). I was able to enhance PATA prestige in international councils including UN agencies, APEC, and OECD to move the Association from regional leader to global player. I must record however my great disappointment at the extermination of many of these projects such as the Green Leaf Programme, and the devaluation of others such as the Chapter network, despite the lip service offered by successive chairmen since my retirement.
Among other projects worth mentioning is the opening in 1970 of Sri Lanka’s first holiday resort in Bentota, based on architectural plans donated free of charge by PATA Member Pete Wimberley (Life Member 1988). It was the year when I joined the travel industry as an Assistant Director at the Ceylon Tourist Board in Colombo. This was the event that aroused my curiosity about PATA.
I telephoned a number of these experts and they readily agreed to come onboard because, as they said, not only were they sympathetic to Sri Lanka, but also considered it a privilege for them to join a PATA Task Force. They expressed the thought that they would not have joined the project had it been initiated by any organisation other than PATA. This was when I thought what a wonderful organisation PATA is. It made me proud of belonging to the organisation because these men were not babies in the woods or beginners in the industry, but were really at the top of their league. Finally, we put together a Task Force of outstanding experts, not just theoreticians, but pragmatic and practical PR professionals. I was delighted to lead the team to Sri Lanka in November 1985, where we met with top rung administrators. We canvassed their views because we had to be sure that our recommendations were themselves practical and implementable.
Three members of the Task Force were Dr Malte Bischoff, Managing Director of Condor, a subsidiary of Lufthansa who represented Sri Lanka’s principal market, Germany and the airline viewpoint; Mr James Larkin, Public Relations Manager of the Irish Tourist Board in Dublin, Ireland, represented the national tourist office perspectives; and Mr Ian Raitt, Chairman of Raitt Orr and Associates of London, provided the vantage point of an internationally renowned PR firm.
The Task Force met for the first time in Sri Lanka. From the first moment of that first meeting, the different individuals united to work as a team, tirelessly working long hours each day and giving selflessly without remuneration, their time, energy and expertise. Their contribution was in the interests of Sri Lanka; their spirit of volunteer cooperation symbolises the essence of PATA serving Asia-Pacific tourism without the motive of profit.
The Task Force enjoyed working in Sri Lanka. Mr James Larkin wrote to me afterwards saying, “I am particularly grateful for the attention you paid to us and the manner in which you looked after us while in Sri Lanka. I found the experience most interesting and I have learned a lot and I thank you and PATA for having me as part of the team.”
Mr Ian Raitt wrote, “May I thank you once again for all your hard work and magnificent diplomacy and tact in dealing with everyone on our visit to Sri Lanka. It was a great pleasure to work with you.”
Being a PATA member, I like most the great interactions I have had: one on one with kings and princes, presidents and prime ministers, captains of industry and leaders of businesses throughout the world. I met the erstwhile King of Nepal a few months before he was assassinated; I also met Princess Diana at the World Travel Market in London sometime after her visit to the White House in Washington DC.
But most of all, I recall with enormous respect those who were nearest to me at PATA: Ken Chamberlain (Life Member 1990), Jerry Picolla, Indonesia’s Minister of Tourism Mr. Joop Ave (Life Member 1991), Alwin Zecha (Life Member 1989), Michael Paulin (Life Member 1998), Bill Lane (Life Member 1976). Also Mina and Kiyomi Sugahara (Life Member 1987), Milly and Tan Chee Chye (Life Member 1996), Ms. Shirin Walji (Life Member 2003), John Lindsay, Paul Hoskins, Luzi Matzig (Life Member 2014), Jae-Pil Sho (Life Member 2009), Caroline Boey, Raini Hamdi, and many more.
But most of all I recall with enormous respect those who were nearest to me at PATA: Ken Chamberlain, whose great vision for PATA was cut halfway by a group who failed to see Ken’s long- term vision and only saw his shortcomings. Ken and his wife Sue befriended me from my first day at PATA to the extent that Sue wanted to take me home to their residence to nurse me back to health, when I fell ill during the absence of my wife, visiting Australia at the time. Ken enjoyed my company, I suspect, as he could talk things English with me such as Cricket and Tea, amid the sea of Americans around him. Ken was my guru in PATA, and it was he who pushed me up the Corporate ladder. I learned the skills of corporate management from him, including the process of budgeting and the tricks of how to balance budgets. He was truly my mentor in PATA. I recall a heated exchange of words with him in a hotel room in Kuala Lumpur, where unbeknownst to me, he had got Board approval to promote me as Vice President of Membership and I refused to take the job preferring to remain Director of Chapter Services with the easy going, jovial Jerry Picolla.
It was Jerry Picolla, PATA’s long time marketing vice president credited with having created the PATA Travel Mart, who recruited me to PATA after a brief conversation over drinks at New York’s Playboy Club on Fifth Avenue. The avuncular Jerry was the greatest travelling companion anybody could ever wish for. He was a “Jolly Roger” to those who were his friends, but was a stern task master when he needed to be.
Indonesia’s Minister of Tourism Mr. Joop Ave, was a tower of strength to me during some of my low moments. I have paid tribute to Joop in my book "Soaring Spirits and Shooting Stars", available on Amazon and Yapa bookshops in Sri Lanka. Joop was one of the very few PATA Chairmen who gave PATA more than he got from it.
Alwin Zecha, the quintessential PATA man was both loved by the small members of PATA and feared by the big men. Alwin was a true icon whose dedication to PATA was the stuff of legend. How he went from being an icon to be an iconoclast beats imagination. I never quite understood his loyalty to me for I never did him any favors. Yet, he stood by me through thick and thin and rarely took umbrage at my frequent barbs at him. He was my best friend at PATA and I truly miss him even in my retirement now.
Michael Paulin, whom Joop Ave described as a lovable bear, has grown in maturity and business acumen with PATA over his long years of service to the Association. Mike and I have a close bond that defies logic. He is a remarkable man of many parts – international hotelier, California vintner, mountaineer, conservationist, fitness buff and globe trotter. I miss those afternoons when we would gather to sample the various brands of California wines and rare blends of Owners Special Scotch, after which we would walk down to the neighborhood steak house for a sumptuous dinner.
Bill Lane, US Ambassador to Australia, a nature and heritage conservationist of the highest calibre, a true PATA legend, who became a close family friend.
There were also other PATA stalwarts, too numerous to mention such as Mina & Kiyomi Sugahara, President of Jetour Corporation of Japan, steadfast friend of PATA who introduced me to the pleasures of Geisha Houses in Tokyo; Milly and Tan Chee Chye, who went out of their way to make my stay in Singapore a happy and fruitful one. Chye chaired the first ever Asia Steering Committee we set up primarily as a weapon to intimidate the Head Office into yielding us a fairer share of PATA resources to the Asia division. Ms. Shirin Walji, Chairperson of Travel Walji’s (Pvt) Ltd, Pakistan, was a true pioneer who had fled her home in East Africa when her property was confiscated during the Independence movement. In Karachi, the young Shirin worked as a long- haul truck driver, before setting up the travel company that was to become the leading tour operator in Pakistan. In 1975 when I arrived in New York City as Sri Lanka’s Director of Tourism for the Americas on a three months assignment which turned out to be a 40-year stay in the US, the first PATA person who met me was John Lindsay then Vice Chairman of the PATA New York Chapter.
I setup office next to John’s PAL office in the KLM building on Fifth Avenue, and many were the times when John would drop in my office for a refreshing cup of pure Ceylon Tea whenever he felt hassled by his country’s first lady visiting New York on special shopping trips. Paul Hoskins, Chairman & CEO of Fulcrum Management International Ltd., U.K. was a cricket aficionado whom I fondly recall, driving me in his Rolls Royce to Lord’s cricket ground to watch a Sri Lanka-England Test Match. Luzi Matzig, Group Managing Director of Asian Trails Ltd., Bangkok, a lover of motorcars, and Jae-Pil Sho, Editor/ Publisher, Travel Press, Seoul, Korea(ROK), were both most generous in their support of me and were super tour guides of their respective cities. Caroline Boey of TTG Asia, and Raini Hamdi, now Editor-at-large, Skift befriended me when I came over to Singapore as Vice President, Asia. I found in them two of the best travel reporters I have ever met and confided in them without ever having to tell them that my utterances were “off the record”.
Story Time! A hilarious moment in PATA Annual Conference, 1993, Honolulu Hawaii:
It was April 1993 at the PATA 42nd Annual Conference at the Sheraton Convention Center, in Honolulu, Hawaii. This was my first Conference after I had assumed the role of President & CEO, and this Conference was unique in that it featured women as the Conference Chairperson and as the Keynote Speaker. I was proud of the fact that two ladies of eminence: Barbara Kim Stanton and Baroness Margaret Thatcher were featured in the Conference program – this being the first time in the Association’s history that women had been selected to play such significant roles.
As usual at such big events, the VIPs, including Margaret Thatcher, were ushered into a holding room just before the Conference began, while outside a procession was forming replete with Hawaiian dancers and drummers to escort the VIPs on stage.
Inside the holding room there was an air of expectancy. I was seated next to the Baroness, engaging her in light-hearted conversation and found the Iron Lady was indeed very human and enjoyed an informal conversation while we were served Ceylon tea. Then we were interrupted by two youthful Hawaiians: one carrying a tray of garlands and the other, a beautiful Hawaiian lass, stood directly in front of me with a garland (lei) held up. I knew the protocol involved and stood up with my head bowed to enable the young lady to place the lei around my neck. Thereafter, she took the tray of flowers in her hand and the male companion stood in front of Dame Margaret Thatcher with the lei held up waiting for her to stand to be garlanded. She didn’t stand and stared blankly in front of her. So, I leaned over and told her softly, “Ma’am here in Hawaii the custom is for you to stand to be lei-d.“ The Iron Lady seemed to be jolted out of her reverie and looked at me very sternly. If looks could kill, I would have dropped dead. I held my nerve smiled back at her and merely said, “Well...”? Then she sprang up and held her neck out whereupon the Hawaiian placed the lei around her neck.
Just then a bell sounded and it was time for us to move out of the holding room into the hallway to join the procession down the aisle between the rows of seats of delegates. Up to the stage, I was rather nervous as I joined the other VIPs in the procession. Immediately in front of me was the Governor of Hawaii, escorting the Chief guest, Maggie Thatcher. Halfway down the aisle, suddenly she whisked around with a broad smile and told me, “That was a jolly good one.” So ended my mischievous encounter with the Iron Lady.
During the Conference, we met several times. One time she asked me, “Where are you from?” and on being told that I am from Sri Lanka, she expressed surprise. When I enquired, “Why”? she responded, “You speak such good English enunciating every word and every vowel.“
PATA President Lakshman Ratnapala welcomes former British Prime Minister Baroness Margaret Thatcher on arrival in Hawaii.
Photo courtesy: Lakshman Ratnapala
Baroness Thatcher enjoys a pleasant conversation with Mr. and Mrs. Ratnapala during a social gathering.
Photo courtesy: Lakshman Ratnapala
