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BANGKOK—With a road map to full Asean integration of
tourism finished before the year ends, the 10 countries
forming the major economic and political bloc in the
Asia-Pacific region are gearing up for a resurgence in
the travel and tourism business.
“We have
just begun the final phase, but already we’re nearing
the vision that all countries will be grouped by the 10
perfect paradise of Asia,” Oscar Palabyab, chairman of
the Task Force on Asean Tourism Marketing, told hundreds
of participants at the Asean Tourism Forum (ATF) here.
Palabyab,
also the
Philippines’s
Department of Tourism undersecretary, said that while
the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean)
committed to become integrated by 2020, the process is
being “accelerated” by having the 10 member-countries
considered as a single destination.
He cited
as example the regime of open skies in the 10
member-countries’ capital cities realized by the end of
the year.
Palabyab
said in his keynote speech at the opening ceremonies of
the year. Palabyab said in his keynote speech at the
opening ceremonies here that Asean has been gearing up
to break down barriers for this goal, such as fully
easing visa requirements for international travelers.
“This
has been almost a hundred percent but we expect it [Asean]
to fully harmonize issuing visas before the end of this
year,” Palayabyab said.
He
explained that the move is part of the program agreed
upon by the ministers of the 10 Asean members (Brunei,
Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam) in
Vientianne.
Establishing Asean as a single destination is aimed at
developing one economic activity and takes advantage of
common attributes of the member- countries, according to
Palabyab.
Likewise, it is part of these countries’ goal to mimic
the European Union that, he says, offers
multidestination points.
Palabyab
said the countries would benefit from accomplishing such
goal based on increasing tourism receipts from the
proportionally increasing number of visitors to the
region.
“Just
yesterday [January 22], we learned that more than 60
million arrivals were recorded for the entire Asean last
year,” Palabyab said.
This
figure is nearly 4 million higher than the 56.5-million
total arrivals recorded in 2006 and nearly 9 million
more than the 51.9 million in 2005.
Citing
Asean National Tourism Organization (NTO) data, Palabyab
said Southeast Asia shared a hefty 6.4 percent of the
total tourist traffic to Asia Pacific in 2006,
“strengthening its position as one of the most visited
destinations in the region.”
That
figure represents $40.227 billion revenues for
tourism-related businesses operating in the Asean-member
countries. The figure represents nearly a 55-percent
growth from the $32.708 billion in tourism receipts
Asean posted in 2005.
The
Philippines’s share also grew from $2.265 billion in
2005 to $3.465 billion in 2006. Palabyab identified the
growth of low-cost carriers as one of five factors that
would drive greater revenue for the member-counties.
The
other factors include the growing economies of source
markets, especially China and India; the increased
awareness and growing media coverage of
Cambodia,
Vietnam, Myanmar and Laos; and more liberal
air-transport facilities.
The
relaxation of visa requirements, to upon-arrival
issuances, is also a factor; that is why, he said, Asean
is accelerating the challenges in this area.
“These
growth factors will spell further difference,” Palabyab
added. Still, he said certain challenges face the
regional bloc’s integrated tourism bid.
These
include the persistence of an image and perception of
Asean as “a dangerous place”; persistent terrorist
threats and the avian flu incidence; and access and
infrastructure.
The
Asean Tourism Forum here aims to offer insights into
economic issues and industry drivers cited by Palabyab,
who represents the Philippines.
The ATF
gathers 627 buyers of travel and tourism-related
products from 55 countries, 576 sellers representing 446
organizations and more than 200 members of the media
from the 10 Asean-member countries.
The ATF
is an annual event that comes at the 40th year of the
Asean. It is the fifth time to be held in
Thailand.
Vietnam would host the forum next year. |
