ASEAN Readies Umbrella Brand

The promotion of ASEAN under the Southeast Asia: Feel the Warmth branding is finally set to hit the ground running, after being plagued by disagreements over the inclusion of the 'ASEAN' word and funding.

A four-year marketing plan has been outlined, with intra-ASEAN travel and arrivals from its dialogue partners being the focus this year, community-based tourism and nature in 2013, MICE in 2014, and long-stay senior travellers in 2015.

Tourism Authority of Thailand deputy governor Asia and South Pacific, Sansern Ngaorungsi, told the Daily that the working group is hammering out an action plan, and that programmes are expected to be up and running by the first quarter.

Sansern Ngaorungsi

The annual budget is US$200,000, with US$160,000  going to marketing and promotions and the rest to product development and research.

At press time, the proposal drawn up by the ASEAN Marketing and Communication Working Group, led by Thailand, had yet to be endorsed by the ASEAN tourism ministers who were at their meetings. However, this is likely to be approved, given the adoption of the new logo at ATF and the fact that NTOs have already started submitting marketing highlights to be considered under this branding.

ASEANTA has also agreed to the new tagline and has offered the use of its website, www.southeastasia.org for promotions.