Date: 20 January 2013
ASEAN ministers discuss tourism cooperation, creating
pan-ASEAN tourist visa.
VIENTIANE, Laos - Representatives of the ten ASEAN nations
met on Sunday in Laos' capital of Vientiane to launch the ASEAN Tourism Forum
(ATF), where they pledged to expand tourism cooperation and discussed creating
a pan-ASEAN tourist visa.
The ATF, which was first held in 1981, is designed to
facilitate and develop tourism promotion and cooperation across the region. A
total of 150 tourism ministers and officials from Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia,
Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam
attended the meeting.
Joining them will be 1,450 delegates, including 800 ASEAN
exhibitors, 400 international buyers, 150 international and local media as well
as 100 tourism trade visitors. Delegates will engage in bilateral talks,
sellers and buyers meetings, and receive presentations from various ASEAN
nations on their tourism industries.
According to a press release from the ATF, ASEAN leaders
will consider the possibility of creating a single pan-ASEAN visa for some
member countries to encourage tourists to visit. Leaders have already agreed to
put more funding into developing tourism, source more financing from dialogue
partners, and to promote tourism in the region.
"As an important economic sector, ASEAN cooperation in
tourism has gone from strength to strength," said Lao Minister of
Information, Culture, and Tourism Dr Bosengkham Vongdara. Vongdara cited the
increase in total international visitors arriving in the region from 73.7
million people in 2010 to 81.2 million in 2011 as evidence of this cooperation.
Tourism is of particular significance to Laos, one of the
least developed countries in South East Asia with few domestic industries. With
a population of only 6.3 million people, Laos received approximately half this
figure in tourist arrivals in 2012. This contributed significantly to economic
growth and development in the country. Arrivals are expected to reach five
million by 2015.
Across the various ASEAN member nations, tourism has risen
between eight and 29 percent from 2010 2011. The ATF will run from Jan. 18 24.
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