Țările ASEAN sunt de acord să ușureze reglementările privind vizele

A 15-a reuniune a miniștrilor turismului ASEAN la ASEAN Tourism Forum (ATF) 2012 din Manado, Sulawesi de Nord, a produs 7 acorduri de bază pentru a sprijini implementarea „Planului strategic turistic ASEAN” (ATSP) 2011-2015. În primul rând, țările membre au convenit asupra continuării integrării turismului ASEAN; în al doilea rând, creșteți conectivitatea între națiunile ASEAN; în al treilea rând, creșterea capacităților de resurse umane pentru turism; în al patrulea rând, asigurați calitatea serviciilor turistice; în al cincilea rând, creați strategii de marketing turistic ASEAN; în al șaselea rând, dezvoltați produse turistice ASEAN; și al șaptelea, să coopereze cu țările partenere ASEAN în domeniul marketingului și dezvoltării turismului. Indonesia’s Minister for Tourism and Creative Economy, Mari Elka Pangestu, chair of the ASEAN Ministers Meeting, stated that the tourism ministers of ASEAN countries acknowledged that there have been significant improvements in the implementation of ATSP in all tourism taskforces Minister Mari Pangestu added that developments were made in communications and transportation that facilitated tourists to travel, one of these components is the ASEAN Open Sky policy, which will endorse international airlines to open routes that connected to ASEAN. She also stated that efforts are conducted to resolve the visa and entry procedures so that the “free movements” among ASEAN peoples can be achieved. As for non-ASEAN visitors, the “ASEAN common visa” will be resolved in the near future to create an “ASEAN Schengen.” On the subject of improvements in tourism services and human resources in ASEAN, she added that agreement has been reached on several standards of services ranging from human resources, facilities, and also accommodation standardization for eco-hotel, home-stay, and spa. For the security system, there will be a “security guideline” for tourism. Other agreements achieved in the marketing strategy is the launch of the branding: "ASEAN, Southeast Asia: Feel the Warmth." Minister Mari Pangestu stated that there will be regular data and information analyses concerning ASEAN tourism marketing strategies. ASEAN tourism product enrichment will also be conducted as one of the strategies to attract foreign tourists to come to the region. Four main ASEAN products to be developed are: cruising and river-based tourism, nature-based tourism, culture and heritage tourism, and community-based tourism. Minister Pangestu looked forward to the creation of thematic packages, for example a Sail ASEAN, that takes the route of Malaka-Karimata-South China Sea-Gulf of Thailand. ASEAN cruising should grow like in the Caribbean, which covers 27 countries. Între timp, deschizând oficial ATF 2012 pe 12 ianuarie, vicepreședintele Boediono a avertizat asupra impactului pe care îl va avea criza economică în creștere în Europa asupra turismului. “The crisis has hit European countries and the United States of America and caused the number of unemployment in those countries to increase,” said Vice President Boediono. Considering that Europe and the USA contributed highly to the ASEAN tourism industries, this condition will undeniably have impact. “The fact is that Europe is the largest market for the region, and at the moment, Europe is seemingly in trouble,” said the Vice President. Vice President Boediono sees that the continuously-growing economies of Asia and other growing economies can be an option as an alternative market source besides the European markets which are projected to decrease due to the crisis. He pointed out an example stating that 43 percent of foreign tourists in ASEAN countries are from within the ASEAN countries itself, while 2/3 of the total came from the region of ASEAN plus China, Korea, Japan, India, and New Zealand. "Cu o creștere puternică a economiei care a stimulat o creștere a clasei de mijloc ASEAN, piețele din Asia ar trebui să fie un nou accent pentru industria turismului", a declarat vicepreședintele Boediono. În acest context, miniștrii turismului ASEAN au organizat, de asemenea, o întâlnire comună de turism cu reprezentanți din Japonia, China, Coreea de Sud și India pentru a consolida turismul între aceste țări asiatice.