A mayors conference in Saigon last week saw the signature of an agreement between five cities of the Lower Mekong Basin region. A first in the history of urban tourism in this part of the world.
HO CHI MINH CITY– Urban tourism has never been so far a big concern among cities in Southeast Asia, especially when looking at trans-border cooperation. Singapore was the first to position itself as a truly urban city- due to of course its situation of City State. And it is only recently that Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh City, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Surabaya or Yogyakarta have embraced the idea that tourism was also part of their social and economic fabric. But very little initiative has so far been launched to work with other urban areas to promote together their strength.
An agreement signed between Bangkok and four other lower Mekong Basin cities in Ho Chi Minh City could be the first step into new initiatives in the field of transborder urban tourism cooperation. The five cities of Bangkok, Thailand; Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; Yangon, Myanmar; Vientiane, Laos PDR; and Phnom Penh, Cambodia. inked an agreement to boost regional tourism.
The agreement was signed at the 2nd Lower Mekong Subregion Tourism City Mayor’s Conference in Ho Chi Minh City by Bangkok Governor Sukhumbhand Paribatra and his counterparts from the three other GMS countries. The agreement is aimed to promote regional cooperation in tourism which was part of “5 Countries – One Single Destination” (5CODe) tourism initiative.
Under the agreement, the five cities agreed to push for several plans to promote cultural, sport and youth exchange programmes, while increasing each city’s potential to attract higher number of tourists under the initiatives for the international promotion of the five cities as top chosen tourist destinations. Culture obviously could be a major activity to work together.
Thailand’s capital Bangkok could then play a pivotal role as the “hub and spoke” of all those cities, thanks to its very strong air transport connections and well-developed infrastructure.
Now that the ink of the MoU is dry, concrete steps have to be sure that those five cities will boost their common capacities and work out programs. Bangkok and Ho Chi Minh City just also signed a city-sistership agreement. But more initiatives must be taken to let the public embracing the ideas of Five Mekong metropolis working together.
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.
