For the most part, the ASEAN countries are their own biggest source-markets in terms of visitor arrivals. This is due to the visa-free access, excellent intra-ASEAN aviation and transportation linkages, massive business interests, shared overland borders, as well as extensive tourism awareness of the regional countries.

In 2007, ASEAN attracted 62.29 million visitors, posting an 11.33% growth over 2006. Over the years, the national tourism organisations of the ASEAN member countries have worked closely to coordinate with relevant agencies in their respective countries to increase market access, flexibility, and capacity of intra-ASEAN travel.

Although considerable work has been done to promote ASEAN as a single destination, the best is yet to come.

In February 2009, Thailand will host the 14th ASEAN Summit at which a number of agreements will be signed to fast-track integration across numerous sectors, including economic, social, cultural, and especially transport and communications.

In November 2008, ASEAN Economic Ministers signed three agreements that will go a long way towards enhancing the flow of intra-regional trade, services and investment. These are:

• ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement (ATIGA): This integrates all existing and new ASEAN commitments and initiatives related to trade in goods in one comprehensive framework. This agreement covers, among others, tariff liberalisation, elimination of non-tariff barriers, rules of origin, trade facilitation, customs procedures, standards and conformance, and sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures.
  
  
• ASEAN Comprehensive Investment Agreement (ACIA): In light of intensifying foreign direct investment (FDI) competition, ACIA will strengthen investment liberalisation and protection with extensive promotion and facilitation programmes. It will reduce uncertainties and transaction costs of investment in ASEAN and enable ASEAN to maintain its premier position for investment flows.
  
  
• 7th Package of ASEAN Framework Agreement on Services (AFAS) Commitments: The 7 AFAS packages will reflect the commitment of ASEAN to achieve higher levels of market openings in the service sectors. Progress in this area is important, as there is a direct correlation between economic growth and a combination of access to external markets and the pace of domestic reforms in the sector.

Also in November 2008, ASEAN transport ministers signed three air agreements that will lead to the full liberalization of freight and other air services in the ASEAN region. Strong linkages are also emerging through railways and highways. Strong cooperation is underway with ASEAN dialogue partners, especially China, India, Japan, and Korea.

Travel and tourism are one of the priority sectors for ASEAN economic integration and will benefit all these agreements. Progress has been achieved in ASEAN joint promotion, tourism human resources, facilitation of travel, cooperation in crisis communications, quality assurance and cooperation with international organizations.

Here are some of the projects that were taken forward in 2008:

• ASEAN Green Hotel Recognition Award
  
  This is designed to raise hotel industry standards and make a commitment to environmental protection. For the first time, at the ASEAN Tourism Forum in Bangkok in January 2008, awards were presented to 81 ASEAN properties which demonstrated outstanding efforts in environmental conservation. This will now become an annual event.
  
  Other activities have included:

  	o	Training course organised by the working group of ASEAN cruise operators;
  	o	Training the Trainers on communications during crisis;
  	o	ASEAN Youth Festival in Singapore during 28 July - 3 August 2008;
  	o	ASEAN Youth Tourism Summit: 24-27 September 2008 in Indonesia

• ASEAN Promotional Chapter for Tourism (APCT)
  
  APCT centres in Australia (Sydney), China (Shanghai), and Korea (Seoul) organised the following activities:

  1.	Tourism Promotion APCT in Seoul during 5-8 June 2008 and Busan International Travel Fair in September 2008
  2.	Attend the APCT Tourism Festival in Shanghai during 13 September - 6 October 2008;
  3.	Attend the APCT Tourism Festival in Sydney such as Newscastle Travel World Show in 16 January 2008, Brisbane Travel Show 29-30 March 2008, ASEAN Golf Day 16 April 2008, and Gold Coast Travel Show 16-18 May 2008.

• Tourism cooperation talks with China, Japan, Korea, India, and Russia.
  
  Stronger tourism cooperation under this ASEAN + China, Japan, Korea, India, and Russia framework will foster greater tourism exchange, social interaction, and closer economic cohesion in East Asia. This cooperation is very timely, as there is now an urgent need for increased intra-regional tourism in view of the global economic downturn.

  	o	ASEAN–China Cooperation: China provided booths for 10 members of ASEAN at the China International Travel Mart 2008, as well as the convening of the Workshop on Chinese Outbound Tourists. ASEAN attended and presented the theme of “ASEAN Cruise Tourism”.
  	o	ASEAN–Japan Cooperation: A film is being made on tourism promotion of ASEAN members through the ASEAN-Japan Centre.
  	o	ASEAN–Korea Cooperation: An ASEAN-ROK Centre is to be established in early 2009 to promote trade, investment, tourism, and socio-cultural cooperation between both sides.
  	o	ASEAN–India Cooperation: An ASEAN-India Workshop was held on the Development of Buddhist Pilgrimage Tourism in Myanmar on 24-27 August 2008. A promotional film on the Buddhist Circuit is being made.
  	o	ASEAN–Russia Cooperation: Russia organised a Russian language training course to help guides handling Russian visitors in the ASEAN countries, in August 2008.

• Thailand hosted the ASEAN Tourism Forum 2008 (ATF 2008).
  
  TAT operated two major events; the ASEAN Tourism Conference and the Travel Exchange during which the ASEAN travel industry showcased its latest products to more than 600 international buyers. The Travel Exchange was attended by 446 sellers from the 10 ASEAN countries, an increase of 9.9% over last year, and 627 buyers from 55 countries, up 42.8%.
  
  In order to better promote ASEAN as a single tourism destination, it is necessary to cooperate on creating a single visa to make it more convenient for tourists from outside the region. However, this project still has to make the required progress as it involves all the ASEAN countries, some of which still have to deal with domestic security issues.
  
  The ASEAN Working Group on Marketing had assigned the private sector ASEANTA to launch the Visit ASEAN Pass (VAP) to promote tourism to and within the region. As this project did not produce the desired results, the ASEAN working group has decided to rebrand it with the ASEAN tourism logo in order to enhance its public relations profile. It is also considering an offer from USAID to promote this project.
  
  The biggest area where ASEAN tourism co-operation is now needed clearly is picture issues; such as, sustainable development and preservation of culture and heritage. With upcoming improvements in transport and trade integration, there will be plenty of people movements through the region. At the same time, climate change and global warming will remain pressing issues long into the future. So we will have to work harder to manage economic growth in a way that preserves the ecology and ecosystems for future generations.
  
  As the current chairman of ASEAN since 24 July 2008, Thailand has proposed a number of projects and activities to boost awareness of ASEAN. These include organising the 4th ASEAN Civil Society Conference, cartoons about ASEAN, and publishing a book on ASEAN tourism.

Contact information:
International Public Relations Division
Tourism Authority of Thailand
Tel: +66 (0) 2250 5500 ext. 4545-48
Fax: +66 (0) 2253 7419
E-mail: prdiv3@tat.or.th
Web site: www.tatnews.org