Tourism ministers from 10 countries constituting the Association of South East Asian Nations are meeting in Manila for the 35th Asean Tourism Forum on Jan. 18 to 25 to map out an integrated tourism development plan and policy framework for the entire region.
Tourism Undersecretary and ATF 2016 Philippine host committee chairman Benito Bengzon Jr. said the forum aimed to make Asean tourism contribute to the overall regional economic integration agenda to address the requirements of 622 million people across Southeast Asia.
Bengzon said the ATF exhibits featuring the best of Asean would give thousands of visitors from all over the world an awesome viewing experience. Among the visitors will be hundreds of foreign buyers and members of the international media.
“Representing the Philippines at the Asean Ministers Meeting is Secretary Ramon Jimenez Jr., who sees the region emerging as a major player in global tourism,” Bengzon said.
Asean tourism ministers will also meet with the officers of the national tourism organizations of the Asean-member countries during the ATF 2016.
NTO participants are industry players and regulators from Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
“The policies to be formulated and polished will be based on the inputs from the various NTOs and how these can be reconciled with the current laws of the Asean-member countries and immediately implemented across the board. The overriding objective is to come up with a single tourism policy infrastructure, legal framework or strategic platform for all of Asean that will be in line with the Asean Economic Community blueprint 2025 and boost the inflow of tourists, not just to one or two countries, but throughout the region,” Bengzon said.
Daily meetings will be held at the Sofitel Philippine Plaza Hotel on Jan. 18 to 22 as the Tourism Promotions Board, the department’s marketing arm, rolls out the ATF exhibits at the SMX Convention Center, Mall of Asia, for the entire duration of the eight-day international event until Jan. 25.
World Bank figures show that Asean is a consumer market with an economic output of $2.57 trillion at a growth rate of 4.6 percent in 2014, which was faster than Europe’s 2.4 percent, Latin America’s 0.9 percent, and the combined Middle East’s and North Africa’s 2.2 percent.
“The ADB [Asian Development Bank] sees Asean economic growth rising by 4.9 percent in 2015 and 5.3 percent in 2016 to help balance the deceleration in China and cushion its global impact,” Bengzon said.
He cited tourism as one of Asean’s major strategic and tactical weapons in perking up business activities, drawing investments from other global growth centers, generating employment, raising government revenues, increasing corporate and individual incomes and broadening the region’s domestic capital and entrepreneurial base to help fight poverty and resist global financial shocks.
“We just have to collectively preserve, develop and promote our distinctly natural, historical and cultural tourism attributes as economic assets and use them sustainably in addressing the needs of the Asean people,” he said.
“As the saying goes: ‘The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.’ This exactly is what Asean tourism integration is envisioned to achieve and inspire through this year’s ATF theme ‘One Community for Sustainability.’ Asean’s tourism resources constitute a gold mine yet to be tapped as, indeed, the best is yet to come,” Bengzon said.