ASEAN Tourism Forum Opens in Singapore

Amid a throbbing percussion performance enhanced by a dazzling cultural programme and a fashion show of regional designs from the 10 member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), more than 1600 buyers, sellers and media were welcomed to the 26th ASEAN Tourism Forum (ATF) being held throughout this week in Singapore.

ATF is a cooperative regional effort to promote the ASEAN region as a single tourist destination.

The annual ATF which coincides this year with ASEAN’s 40th anniversary is taking place at the Raffles City Convention Centre and the Singapore International Convention & Exhibition Centre in Suntec City from January 26 to February 3, 2007.

This year’s them “Embracing Our Past and Together Shaping Our Future” was devised to reflect the fact that while the region is prepared to face the challenges of the future and the opportunities it offers at the same time it embraces the past and respects its traditions.

The convention annually brings together ASEAN tourism ministers, national tourism leaders and executive decision makers from the 10 ASEAN countries: Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam to review industry developments, exchange ideas, develop concepts and formulate specific recommendations to further accelerate the growth of tourism to and through the ASEAN region.

The ASEAN region attracted 56 million visitors last year, an 8 per cent increase over 2005, said Mr Goh Chok Tong, Senior Minister, Republic of Singapore,[pictured flanked by Ministers and other senior officials of ASEAN] during the opening ceremony on Tuesday evening in Singapore in his keynote address at the ATF opening ceremony in the Grand Ballroom of the Swissotel The Stamford.

In order to sustain this he proposed several solutions including turning ASEAN into a major cruise destination.

Singapore has the highest number of cruise ship arrivals in the region with some 850,000 passengers docking in the island nation last year.

Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore are keen to develop their own cruise industries.  The longer term goal is to strengthen the cruise infrastructure throughout Asia.

A new website with links to cruise operators in the region is expected to be launched in March.

Another area we can focus on is youth tourism.  This is a key driver of growth, he said.

During his address Mr Goh issued a challenge by calling for full open skies for ASEAN before the organisation celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2017.

Freer skies with ASEAN and between ASEAN and key countries will not only boost the region’s tourism industry but have many positive multiplying effects on our respective economies, he said.

There is already a ‘road map’ in place to lift restrictions on air travel between ASEAN capitals by the end of 2008.  An open skies agreement between ASEAN and China and India is in the planning stage.

Mr Goh stressed the importance of India and China saying that they are the “growth engines for the region”.

Both countries are huge tourism markets with outbound tourist numbers growing in double digits, he added.

“In addition, as China and India develop and build up their tourism infrastructure they will themselves draw in tourists from all over the world.”

By Thomas E. King, TravelMole’s Travel & Lifestyle Editor