Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) has sought apology from the department of Tourism and minister R V Deshpande for posting wrong map of India in its advertisement.
“I would like to apologise for the inclusion of wrong image used. It was used in good faith to highlight where the state of Karnataka is in relation to the country of India for those who are not familiar with the country. The image was supposed to be a general representation of India and not be taken as the actual map. However upon learning the issue, we took immediate steps to rectify the mistake done and have the map replaced with more appropriate images on all our media partners where the advertisement was placed,” PATA Chief Executive Officer, Mario Hardy stated in his written apology.
As part of the upcoming ‘International Travel Mart’, the country’s premier travel and tourism exhibition to be held in the city on September 6 and 7, the Association had released an advertisement showing India's map, without Jammu and Kashmir.
The advertisement had gone viral on social media on Monday. Minister Deshpande had directed the association to withdraw the advertisement from media. The minister however, clarified that no official advertisement was released by the department or the government.
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