ASEAN tourism ministers calls for striving towards quality tourist destinations

Tourism ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) call for efforts to become a quality tourist destinations under a new ASEAN Tourism Strategic Plan (ATSP) 2016-25, said a joint media statement of the 18th ASEAN Tourism Ministers Meeting (ATMM) released here on Monday.

The quality tourist destination will offer a unique and diverse ASEAN experience while committed to responsible, sustainable, inclusive and balanced tourist development, the statement said.

Commending the progress made in implementing the ATSP 2011-15, the ministers urged expedition of the implementation of remaining measures to support the timely realization of ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) by 2015.

According to the statement, large influx of international tourists to ASEAN countries was registered in 2014 with 97.2 million, posting a growth of 3 percent from 2013.

The statement said the operationalization of ASEAN Open Skies Agreements help maintain intra-ASEAN travel as the main source of tourist growth in the region with record arrivals of 28.05 million or 53 percent share of total international tourists who visited ASEAN.

The ATMM also touched on topics relating to human resources in tourism and mobility, quality enhancement, tourist promotion and connectivity enhancement.

The 18th ATMM was held in conjunction with the 34th ASEAN Tourism Forum (ATF) 2015, chaired by Myanmar Minister of Hotels and Tourism U Htay Aung.

The ATMM was preceded by the 41st Meeting of ASEAN National Tourism Organizations (NTO) and their consultation with dialogue partners.

The ATF 2015, which began on last Thursday with the theme of " ASEAN Tourism Towards Peace, Prosperity and Partnership", is being attended by 300 buyers and 905 sellers with 527 booths as well as 67 international and 57 local media.

The ministers also agreed that ATF-2016 will be convened in Manila, the Philippines , while the ATF 2017 in Singapore. Endi