ASEAN Tourism Ministers Press Conference, 16 January 2020

The ASEAN Tourism Ministers Press Conference was held today at the Indera Samudra Grand Hall, The Empire Brunei Jerudong on the outcomes of the Meetings of ASEAN Tourism Ministers, which took place in the framework of ASEAN Tourism Forum (ATF) 2020.

According to the statistics in 2019 ASEAN welcomed 133 million international arrivals (up 7% compared to 2018), of which the number of intra-ASEAN tourist arrivals accounts for about 36.7%.

The 23rd meeting of ASEAN Tourism Ministers commended the work of the ASEAN National Tourism Organisations (NTOs) and their Committees implementing the ASEAN Tourism Strategic Plan (ATSP) 2016 - 2025 and took note that 47 out of 73 activities or 64.4% of the ATSP have been implemented or completed.

The ministers realised that digital tourism is one of the key activities to be aligned to enhance the public's experience in accessing information and services and develop a declaration on ASEAN digital tourism to be considered and adopted by the ASEAN leaders at the 37th ASEAN Summit in Vietnam toward the end of 2020.

The Ministers welcomed the development of festival tourism 2020 which highlighted the various unique festivals and activities in ASEAN member states throughout 2020.

The Ministers are working towards signing the Protocol to Amend the Mutual Recognition Arrangements on Tourism Professional (MRA-TP) in 2020 on an ad referendum basis to enable the MRA-TP to expand the recognition of more professionals under other related tourism and hospitality Industries.

The Ministers were pleased to acknowledge that in 2019, the ASEAN Plus Three region attracted 244.5 million international visitor arrivals, an increase by 5.8% from 2018, and optimistic that the tourism industry in the region will continue to grow at the ASEAN Plus Three countries strengthen their cooporation through mutually beneficial projects and activities.

During the meeting, the Ministers endorsed the ASEAN Plus Three Framework on Environment Management Standards and also agreed to develop the successor document to the APT Tourism Corporation Work Plan this year to synergize the subsequent work plan with the ASEAN Tourism Strategic Plan (ATSP) 2016-2025.

The ATF 2020 was held from 12th to 16th January 2020 in Brunei Darussalam with the theme of “ASEAN Together Towards A New Generation of Travel”. The ATF was also participated by 263 exhibitors and attended by 160 international buyers and 40 local and international media.

ASEAN Tourism Forum 2020

Website http://www.atfbrunei2020.com/atf/

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