From fully open skies to Caribbean-style cruises, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is making concerted efforts to brand this region as a single destination for tourism.

Integration was the word at the 26th ASEAN Tourism Forum, which closed down on Friday. Tourism ministers and industry organizations from the ten ASEAN nations, with their dialogue partners from China, Republic of Korea (ROK) and Japan, outlined plans to jointly promote the region as a seamless destination and strengthen connectivity between countries.

The tourism ministers said they were urging their transport counterparts to work towards freer skies within ASEAN.

ASEAN has earlier agreed to implement open skies for capital-to-capital flights by the end of 2008, and the tourism ministers stressed to make efforts to implement the "Air Services Liberalization Road Map" by 2010 to extend unlimited flights to all cities beyond capitals.

While Singapore's Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong called for full open skies for 40-year-old ASEAN before 2017 when it celebrates its 50th anniversary.

During the meetings, members also improved common understanding on liberalizing travel barriers to facilitate easy cross-border intra-ASEAN travel and making it convenient for visitors to travel into and within ASEAN.

ASEAN, which groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, has identified tourism as a priority sector for economic integration. It attracted more than 56 million visitors last year, 8 percent higher than in 2005.

Another outcome of the meetings was to develop the region's Caribbean-style cruises.

A working group tasked to draw up a roadmap for the project said it would focus on building cruise terminals, launching a joint marketing effort and training personnel in the coming years.

In addition, a website with information on Southeast Asia as a cruise destination will be launched next month. ASEAN members can update information on their own country on the website and it will be managed by the ASEAN Secretariat.

During the ASEAN plus three meeting, ASEAN tourism leaders with their counterparts from China, ROK and Japan agreed to reinforce tourism cooperation.

Japan promised to contribute their expertise in cruise sector while China and ROK promised to accelerate the establishment of ASEAN-China Center and ASEAN-ROK Center respectively for promoting trade, investment and tourism.

The ministers also discussed strengthening manpower development, joint tourism marketing and promotion, quality assurance and safety measures for tourists.

Last year, ASEAN attracted more than 8.26 million visitors from the plus three countries while just contributed 4.4 million to the latter.

To draw youth travelers was another hot topic during the meetings.

ASEAN anticipates youth travel to be a key growth segment, as World Tourism Organization estimates that youth travelers account for up to 25 percent of all international travel.
 
The meetings drew a profile of a typical youth traveler: to be independent, aged between 15 and 30 years, with an increasing enthusiasm for traveling to far-flung and off-the-beaten-track locations to experience different cultures. Budget limitations and the willingness to visit more destinations encourage youths to self-tailor their itineraries.

ASEAN tourism leaders launched a three-year drive to nurture the youth market. The Philippines has been tasked to coordinate promotional efforts for intra-ASEAN youth travel, including working closely with youth associations in ASEAN.

They called on regional travel agents to come up with tailored programs for youths, as well as budget carriers to develop special packages targeted at the youths.

They also agreed to implement youth exchange projects and student travel among ASEAN nations as well as the plus three countries.

(Xinhua News Agency February 3, 2007)