Pacific Area Travel Writers Association
The Pacific Area Travel Writers Association (PATWA) is a non-profit, non-government, professional, international organisation of travel writers, founded in 1999. PATWA’s primary objective is to serve as a catalyst for responsibly developing the travel and tourism industry in the Asia Pacific region.
PATWA is founded on the philosophy of supporting the sustainable development, growth, and development of worldwide travel, tourism, hospitality, and aviation. The organisation works with both public and private sectors to support sustainable growth and improve the quality of travel and tourism across the globe. It adheres to the fundamental principles of the United Nations (UN); the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO); and UN Tourism.
PATWA is an Affiliate Member of UN Tourism.
Our Board
YATAN AHLUWALIA, Secretary General
A global nomad who manages and oversees all our operations. He heads our awards jury and International awards council. Yatan lives out of a suitcase and functions on his laptop through most of the year. Besides being an authority on luxury and sustainable travel, he is a leading columnist, grooming and style consultant, trainer, lifestyle futurist, CEO of multiple companies, organic farmer, pet parent, and lover of all things sustainable and natural.
PREM AHLUWALIA, Deputy Secretary General
Our Co-Founder and pillar of guidance, she has helped build our organisation, and taken it across geographic boundaries. A world traveller and internationally recognised women’s activist, author, editor, and lifetime travel journalist, she loves farming and her plants as much as writing.
PULKIT SHARMA, Head - Special Projects & Features Editor
He helps plan, organise, manage and coordinate our events, and is the youngest member of our awards jury. A trained dancer, he has curated Dance Wellness. A young entrepreneur who understands how millennials think, he is always full of bright ideas, and loves everything related to travel and wellbeing.
Our Team
JOSEPH EDWARD MENDONCA, Consultant - Travel & Awards
The ‘silent’ member of the team – seldom seen but always heard. A jury member and seasoned traveller who has lived in multiple countries. A leading makeup artist, hair stylist, and trainer, and pet parent, he has a very spiritual side, and lives at his hilltop organic farm in the lower Himalayas.
DIYA KOSHY GEORGE, Content Head & Editor
She is a content consultant with over 20 years’ industry experience. When not working on our handbooks and website, she likes to spend her time reading, journalling, and daydreaming about travelling.
Remembering Our Founder
Sagar Ahluwalia, our Founder, a doyen of the global travel industry, and the father of the Indian travel sector, passed away in September 2022 at the age of 87. He wanted to work till his last day, and that is exactly what he did. He was the Founder and Secretary General of the Pacific Area Travel Writers Association (PATWA), the Editor of Young India, Editorial Advisor of Safari India, and Director General of the World Travel Forum.
He started working while still a student, years prior to his lifelong association with the travel and tourism industry. He was a respected leader in Indian and global student and youth political movements.
Sagar Ahluwalia was widely regarded as a visionary in the tourism industry, and his dream was to take Indian Tourism to the global stage. It is this vision that took him and Safari India to foreign shores. He travelled the world as the brand ambassador for Indian tourism and never missed an opportunity to attract foreign tourists to his home country. He was a regular at PATA, World Travel Mart, ASTA, Arab Travel Mart, and the mecca of the global tourism industry, ITB Berlin, which is held in March, annually.
It was during one of his visits to ITB, decades ago, that he saw an opportunity to mark India’s stamp on the event. In 1999, he floated a global tourism journalists’ association called PATWA (Pacific Area Travel Writers Association). PATWA soon became a staple at ITB Berlin as a forum to deliberate on the issues impacting the global travel industry and to honour the men and women who promote tourism globally.
PATWA and the PATWA International Travel Awards have now become synonymous with ITB Berlin. Sagar Ahluwalia authored a book called Global Icons of Travel and Tourism based on his learnings and the people he met during his association with the tourism industry. Writing was his passion and he authored several books including Anna, The Tempest and the Sea, Youth in Revolt and Henry Kissinger – the Miracle Man, early on in his professional life.
He received many accolades over the years. Among them was the Key to the City of Niagara Falls, making him the first non-Head of State and the only Indian recipient of this honour. The Mayor of Geneva awarded him the “Bell of the Church” for his contributions to the global travel industry. The Press Club of India recognised him with a Lifetime Achievement Award for distinguished contributions to travel journalism. Sagar Ahluwalia lived his life on his own terms and leaves a legacy through his family and many friends, PATWA, and so much more.
Our Mission and Inspiration
Our goal is to promote tourism by developing and encouraging travel writing, reporting, and communication across both print and electronic platforms. Through our seminars, roundtables, and discussions with travel trade professionals from around the world, we help find solutions to the issues and problems the travel industry is facing.
We aim to:
- Encourage sustainable and environmentally friendly practices
- Nurture a finer appreciation and understanding of people – their culture, habits, customs, and history
- Promote tolerance, co-operation, and peace
- Raise social and living standards by developing and processing travel communication
- Establish standards and guidelines for the travel industry
