Secretary-General of ASEAN
at the
 APEC Tourism Ministerial Meeting
Hoi An, Viet Nam, 16-17 October 2006

Excellencies

Ladies and Gentlemen,

1. I am honour to be invited to this APEC Tourism Ministerial Meeting and to deliver my statement.

2. Tourism is an important sector for the ASEAN economies. In 2005, ASEAN received 51.2 million international visitor arrivals, representing an annual growth of 4.55 per cent. APEC member economies continue to be   important source markets for ASEAN. In the same year, they contributed more than 39.6 million visitor arrivals or 77 per cent of ASEAN’s total.

3. Therefore, the tourism sector, which has high inter-industry and cross-country linkages, is well suited to be one of the leading sectors in ASEAN economic growth and integration. Tourism is one of the twelve priority sectors for accelerated ASEAN integration as we move towards an ASEAN Economic Community.  A number of measures are being undertaken by the ASEAN National Tourism Organisations (NTOs) and relevant ASEAN bodies in this respect.  These include joint tourism promotion and marketing, upgrading tourism manpower quality, attracting tourism investment, developing cruise tourism and liberalisation of tourism-related services.

4. On joint tourism promotion and marketing, the Visit ASEAN Campaign phase 4 is being finalised. This phase will see the promotion of the Visit ASEAN Pass (vap!) in a number of leading visual and print media such as CNN, travel and consumer magazines and the internet. To further support tourism marketing and promotion in our major source markets, ASEAN Promotional Chapters for Tourism (APCT), committees comprising ASEAN Member Countries’ tourism offices, embassies and consulates, will also be established in Beijing, Seoul and Sydney.

5. In order to become a world-class tourism destination, developing high quality tourism manpower is an essential requirement. With a view to improving the quality and competitiveness of ASEAN tourism manpower, a study to identify and define the ASEAN Common Competency Standards for Tourism Professional (ACCSTP) was conducted in 2004 and 2005. The study has successfully identified common competency standards for 33 tourism job-titles, which serve as the starting point for the development of Mutual Recognition Arrangements for tourism professionals.  This will facilitate the movement of tourism professionals within the ASEAN region and thus strengthening the economies through greater efficiency in tourism services.

6. With regard to the investment component, ASEAN aims at establishing an Integrated ASEAN Tourism Investment Zone (ATIZ) before 2010. The key feature of ATIZ is the creation of trans-border tourism clusters that go beyond collection of tourism investment opportunities for joint ASEAN marketing and promotion. A study was conducted and it recommended three high potential thematic cluster for ASEAN, namely Heritage Tourism Cluster, Eco-tourism Cluster and Cruise Cluster.

7. In the last decade, ASEAN has become an emerging cruise market. ASEAN has proven its suitability as year-round cruise destination with a number of home-ports. In order to develop the cruise industry and to promote ASEAN as a destination for cruise tourism, a Cruise Working Group has been established to identify joint promotion activities and set out a framework for facilitating infrastructure development as well as facilitation of travel.

8. ASEAN also holds annually the ASEAN Tourism Forum (ATF). The ATF 2006 with the theme of “Celebrating the Many Faces of ASEAN”, was held on 13-21 January 2006 in Davao, Philippines.  It brought thousand of stake-holders to explore business opportunities in ASEAN tourism sector. The next ATF will be held on 26 January to 3 February 2007 in Singapore with the theme of “ASEAN: Embracing Our Past and Together Shaping Our Future”.

9. Despite the achieving good progress, the ASEAN tourism industry continues to be fragile as it is very sensitive to environmental changes and other challenges. SARS in 2003 and the Tsunami of 2004 are clear examples on how the image of ASEAN tourist destination was adversely affected by misperceptions. Therefore, it is necessary to immunise ASEAN tourism with good defences and to reduce the impact of adverse developments. One key requirement is reliable information and information dissemination mechanisms. For this, the ASEAN Tourism Crisis Communication Team has been set up to assist ASEAN NTOs in managing and providing communication channels during crisis and other events threatening or affecting tourism in ASEAN Member Countries. Activities of the Team are guided by the ASEAN Crisis Communications Manual.

10. ASEAN believes that the more the ASEAN Member Countries integrate their economies, the better it will be as a market for trade, investment and tourism.  Hence, ASEAN will be stepping up its economic integration towards the objective of establishing an ASEAN Economic Community.  In doing so, ASEAN will work actively and purposefully with APEC across the wide tourism spectrum. ASEAN together with its partners will endeavour to take tourism cooperation with APEC to its maximum possible level.

Thank you.