Need To Step Up ASEAN Tourism Promotion

By Linda Khoo Hui Li KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 3 (Bernama) -- Efforts to promote and market ASEAN as a single tourist destination should shift to a higher gear to further drive economic growth among member countries. Taylor's University deputy vice-chancellor Dr Pradeep Nair said the region's tourism stakeholders could take a leaf from the European tourism sector, with many European countries regularly topping global lists in terms of the number of tourist arrivals. "ASEAN should be more aggressively marketed as a single tourist destination, like what we normally see when Asian tourists plan their trips to Europe," he told Bernama. In this regard, he urged stakeholders such as ASEAN national tourism organisations, airlines, travel and tour companies as well as hotel operators to work together within a well thought-out policy framework that provided suitable platforms for exchange of ideas and views. Intra-ASEAN travel could be further boosted by introducing measures like more cross-border travel packages, said Pradeep. Pradeed is the first Asian to be made a fellow of the International Centre of Excellence in Tourism and Hospitality Education (THE-ICE), THE-ICE is an international accreditation body of hospitality and tourism courses based in Australia. For its part, Malaysia has taken the initiative to develop an ASEAN-focused TV travel channel - GOASEAN - to promote ASEAN as a single tourism destination. It features key areas such as nature-based tourism, culture and heritage tourism, family fun and business tourism. To support the growth of ASEAN tourism, Pradeep pointed out that tourism research and sharing of expertise in the region was essential. In this connection, he said, the ASEAN Tourism Research Association, of which he is president since 2013, could well serve as a one-stop centre for tourism research and education. The 18th Meeting of ASEAN Tourism Ministers in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar last January noted that preliminary figures showed that 97.2 million international tourists visited ASEAN member countries in 2014, up three per cent from 2013. -- BERNAMA