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VIENTIANE, Lao PDR – ATF 2013 – REPORT: The 32nd Asean Tourism Forum officially opened in Vientiane on Sunday, seeking to boost regional cooperation and attract more tourists to all ASEAN member countries.
VIENTIANE, Lao PDR – ATF 2013 – REPORT: The regional ASEAN Travel Forum (ATF) opened in Vientiane for the second time. Laos hosted its first ATF back to 2004. The forum brings together over 1,800 delegates including tourism officials from ASEAN and its dialogue partners (China, Japan, Republic of Korea, India and Russia), along with buyers, sellers and media from around the world.
Prime Minister Thongsing Thammavong addressed the opening ceremony, reiterating that this event is of historic significance for both ASEAN and Laos in preparation for the ASEAN Economic Community in 2015 (in reality it has already been postponed to the end of 2015 and become effective on January 1st, 2016).
Laos Prime Minister highlighted that the fact that ASEAN is a large group of nations in Southeast Asia with diverse languages, cultures, customs and traditions that have been passed down from generation to generation. In addition, ASEAN nations are endowed with rich natural resources and a history of prosperous civilisations and monuments. These features still exist today as attractive tourism resources, making Southeast Asia one of the most desirable destinations on the continent.
“Thanks to excellent cooperation, we have seen the number of tourist arrivals in Asean further increase in the year 2011, with the number of international tourists visiting the region rising to 74.8 million,” Mr Thongsing said. The strong growth of 10.14% over 2011 was due also to enhanced connectivities as low cost airlines continue to open new routes, followed by scheduled carriers. Myanmar’s political opening, simpler visa conditions to enter Vietnam, political stability in Thailand contributed all to the good tourism performance in the region.
“This has made an enormous contribution to the socio-economic development of member countries, creating jobs, alleviating poverty and helping to close the gap in economic development between the newer and longstanding ASEAN member countries,” added the Prime Minister in his opening speech.
The 32nd forum is proceeding under the theme “Asean – Hand in Hand, Conquering Our Future” and will run until January 24.
Laos Minister of Information, Culture and Tourism Prof. Dr Bosengkham Vongdara higlighted during the Ministers of Tourism Press Conference that growth in the region was essentially due to the excellent performance from regional markets. Intra-ASEAN travel represents now 46% of all arrivals while the rest of Asia has a share of 28% of all arrivals. An ASEAN Tourism Strategic Plan covering the year 2011-2015 has been adopted. It foresees a further simplication of visa procedures, enhanced connectivity within the region. The latter includes an improvement in road cross-bording in public transport and the future implementation of a single visa for the entire ASEAN for non ASEAN travellers. “The recent agreement of a common visa for Cambodia/Thailand is a first step. More will follow”, highlighted Cambodia’s Minister of Tourism, Dr Thong Khon. Facilitation in visa formalities, information centres as well as open skies policies are also implemented between ASEAN and China as well as ASEAN and India.
ATF Travex exhibition at Lao-ITECC has 490 booths, with1,000 sellers from the 10 Asean member countries, 470 buyers from around the world and 141 media of which 92 come from abroad. The forum will also provide an invaluable opportunity for policy makers, administrators, tourism officials and tourism entrepreneurs to share their views, experiences and lessons on the development of tourism.
Laos has been preparing for the forum since the ATF 2012 held in Manado, Indonesia, when the government assigned the Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism to organise the event. Malaysia Minister of Tourism, Dr. Ng Yen Yen, announced at the press conference that the next ATF will take place in Kuching, the capital city of Sarawak on Borneo Island.
Luc Citrinot a French national is a freelance journalist and consultant in tourism and air transport with over 20 years experience. Based in Paris and Bangkok, he works for various travel and air transport trade publications in Europe and Asia.
