ASEAN or Southeast Asia?
BANGKOK – A debate about whether to drop ASEAN as a tourism brand and replace it with the geographical description Southeast Asia is underway.
TTR Weekly reported this week that moves by US-funded consultants to drop the brand name “Asean†from travel promotions in favour of the geographical description, Southeast Asia, are facing opposition from travel leaders within the Asean Tourism Association (Aseanta).
At a recent meeting of Aseanta, the umbrella grouping of Asean airlines and private tourism organisations, held in the Thai beach resort of Pattaya, consultants led by Pacific Asia Travel Association’s former vice president operations, Michael Yates, were told Thailand was not in favour of a campaign that does not recognise Asean as the brand for the 10-nation group.
In an online follow-up, former PATA communications officer David Gillbanks, who describes himself as a “results-oriented communications strategist, tactician and practitionerâ€, has posted a poll asking the question, “Of the two names, Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and Southeast Asia, which best evokes travel and exploration?â€
When TravelMole checked, the poll was showing 88.9 percent in favour of Southeast Asia and 11.1 percent opting for ASEAN.
TTR Weekly reports that the US Agency for International Development (USAID) is pumping US$8 million into Advance Competitiveness Enhancement project (ACE) targeting a number of key Asean industries, tourism being one of them. The project will run until 2013.
However, a proposal to drop the brand name “Asean†from tourism based promotions and public relations efforts as part of a package of efforts to boost Asean’s tourism competitiveness is meeting resistance from key members of the Aseanta board.
Thailand’s private sector representatives were clear in their opposition to what they called a “foreign perspective on Asean.â€
They told the recent Pattaya meeting they did not agree with the idea that the brand “Asean†was not a recognisable brand for regional tourism marketing, but that the real issue was a lack of cooperation among the members to promote each other, as stressed by Dato Abdulla Jonid, a former executive director of the now defunct Asean Tourism Centre.
The issue dates back to an announcement at the Asean Tourism Forum last January in Hanoi, when tourism ministers from the Asean officially endorsed the signing of a MoU between USAID and Aseanta.
Its objective was to support Asean to develop a “new, more effective marketing strategy that promotes Southeast Asia as a single destination.â€
This article reported in association with TTR Weekly’s Chanida Sa-ngiamphaisalsul, Don Ross and Travel Impact Newswire executive editor, Imtiaz Muqbil
Ian Jarrett
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