In the declaration, participants agreed on four topics including Asian regional tourism cooperation and development, new tourist products development, sustainable tourism growth, and the socio-economic contribution of the tourism sector.

The declaration underlined that participants viewed the government sector, the tourism trade and local communities as a strategic partnership in promoting sustainable tourism. Thus the role of the BFA and the Asia Cooperation Dialogue (ACD) should be promoted as dual tracks in forging Asia-wide cooperation.

The declaration said that Asian countries and regions were generally potential-rich in tourism resources and took a positive approach to formulating tourism policies. All this made it quite possible to have an increasingly prosperous future for tourism in Asia, which would continue to be the fastest-growing region in the global tourism industry.

The high proportion of inter-regional tourism within Asia provided a solid foundation for developing tourism, the declaration noted. Rational planning and proper implementation of development plans was vital to carry out the strategies of sustainable tourism.

Asian countries and regions should facilitate developing traditional and new types of tourism products, and observing the principle of protecting their natural environment and historic cultural relics, said the declaration. They should be committed tofurther beefing up the tourism information network and speeding the use of e-commerce in tourism promotional programs.

The declaration also spoke highly of the socio-economic benefits of tourism, saying that it increased hard currency earnings, helped under-developed areas alleviate poverty, and stimulated neighboring areas to create more job opportunities and new sources of economic activities.

Participants hold that tourism can play an important role in national and regional economic and social growth, and contributed significantly to world peace and progress. They also suggested the conference be a starting point for establishing a cooperative and collaborative mechanism, enabling industry professionals in Asia to meet regularly to confer on major issues concerning regional tourism cooperation and development.

The conference, which opened on Nov. 18, was co-sponsored by the BFA, China's National Tourism Administration, and the ACD.

(Xinhua News Agency November 20, 2002)