THE Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) has allotted an initial $370,000 budget for 2016 to promote and showcase the region as a single tourist destination.
During the 19th Asean Tourism Ministers’ Meeting at the Asean Tourism Forum (ATF), which the Philippines hosted, Tourism Undersecretary Benito C. Bengzon Jr. presented the plan for the Asean Tourism Strategic Plan (ATSP) for 2016 to 2025.
Under the plan, each of the 10 Asean member-countries will each contribute $37,000 this year for the Visit Asean@50 campaign.
“Each member-state will contribute. It is adequate. The campaign is global in a way. We have already identified our priority markets,” Bengzon, who is also the ATF 2016 Philippine Host Committee chairman said.
However, further activities for the campaign will still be identified, which may require additional budget with the Asean secretariat requested to identify other possible funding support.
The promotion of Visit Asean@50 will be done by national tourism offices at the national levels, and by the Steering Committee and ad hoc team on the international level.
The campaign is targeting 120 million visitors and tourism receipts of $82.80 billion by 2017, the year the Asean will be celebrating its 50th founding anniversary.
The campaign, which is also intended to advance the Asean Economic Community which was established in December last year, also expects tourist visit to at least two Asean countries to last from six to seven days.
The major source markets it has identified include intra-Asean travel; key markets in the Asia Pacific, including China, Japan, Korea, India and Australia; Germany and Russia in Europe; Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Oman in the Middle East; the United States; and Canada.
“We want to enhance the competitiveness of the region while focusing on sustainability and inclusive growth. All stakeholders will get to benefit,” Bengzon said.
During the Asean Tourism Ministers Meeting, the ATSP was divided into three time frames, including one for this year until 2017, 2018 to 2020, and 2021 to 2025.
For this year and 2017, aside from the Asean@50 celebration, others included in the list are the Asean Tourism Market strategy, new Asean tourism products, Asean investment guide, Mutual Recognition Arrangement Regional Secretariat, human resource development plan and infrastructure for cruise tourism.
Under the ATSP framework, the Asean region by 2025 will be a quality tourism destination offering a unique and diverse experience. It will also be committed to responsible, sustainable, inclusive and balanced tourism development so that it can contribute significantly to the socioeconomic well-being of its people.