Founded in 1951, the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) is the recognised authority on Pacific Asia travel and tourism. By dedicating itself to the promotion of this last remaining tourism frontier, PATA's uniquely structured organisation and its far-reaching efforts have helped unite the many facets of tourism in the region. PATA provides leadership to the collective efforts of nearly 100 government, state and city tourism bodies, over 55 airlines and cruise lines and hundreds of travel industry companies. In addition, thousands of travel professionals belong to more than 70 PATA Chapters worldwide. An intrinsic value of PATA is the broad base of its membership. All facets of the travel industry are represented within PATA's partnership of both public and private sectors, large and small organisations, developed and developing nations, and companies, which provide a wide range of services to the travel industry. PATA's mission is to enhance the growth, value and quality of Pacific Asia travel and tourism for the benefit of its membership. PATA has long been an advocate of balancing growth with responsible conservation measures, and its successes to date have been extraordinary. While international travel to Pacific Asia has increased threefold in the last decade alone - from 25 million visitors a year to over 90 million - PATA has provided a cohesive structure to help its members realise the most economic prosperity from this growth. In response to the recent economic downturn, PATA quickly took action to increase marketing and promotional activities on behalf of the region.