The 25th Meeting of ASEAN Tourism Ministers: Strengthening cooperation, exchanging information, promoting and revitalising tourism

Ministers/Deputy Ministers of ASEAN countries at the Meeting

The 25th Meeting of ASEAN Tourism Ministers kicked off on January 19th in Sihanoukville, Cambodia. This is an important activity within the agenda of the ASEAN Tourism Forum (ATF) 2022.

The conference was chaired by the Cambodia’s Minister of Tourism, Mr. Thong Khon and Indonesia’s Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy, Mr. Sandiaga Uno, with the presence of Vietnam’s Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Mr. Doan Van Viet, Chairman of Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, Mr. Nguyen Trung Khanh, with the Ministers of Tourism, leaders of tourism agencies of ASEAN countries, partners, international organisations, national and international press reporters.

Giving a speech at the conference, leader of the Vietnamese delegation, Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Mr. Doan Van Viet shared burdens that the tourism industry has been facing during the past two years since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Mr. Deputy Minister highly appreciated the efforts that ASEAN tourism has made in the past year to complete and implement several projects and initiatives, contributing to the preparation for the recovery and development of the tourism industry in a comprehensive, sustainable and resilient way.

Deputy Minister Doan Van Viet called upon ASEAN Tourism Ministers and Heads of Delegations to strengthen cooperation and exchange of information for timely sharing exact new immigration, medical and safety regulations, ensuring the safest and most uniform conditions for tourism activities in the region. Simultaneously, working together to speed up the opening and promote international tourism at an appropriate time, depending on the conditions of each country.

“With the efforts we have made over the past two years, I am confident in the strong recovery of ASEAN tourism in 2022. In Vietnam, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism will submit to Prime Minister a proposal about open the entire international tourism market plan on April 30th 2022’’. Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Mr. Doan Van Viet indicated.

Deputy Minister Doan Van Viet added, in two years 2020 and 2021, because of the outbreaks of the COVID-19 pandemic, Vietnam’s tourism industry has been heavily affected. Vietnam has made many efforts to revive the tourism industry through the issuance of guidelines to ensure tourism safety; policies to support tourism businesses and workers; implement the plans to stimulate demand and restore domestic tourism. In particular, Vietnam has carried out a pilot plan to reopen international tourism since mid-November 2021. As of January 15th 2022, Vietnam has welcomed about 8,000 international arrivals after nearly two months of piloting. “We will continue to gradually open up international tourism, ensuring safety, flexibility and efficiency, and at the same time strengthen the implementation of communication, promotion and advertising activities under the theme “Live Fully in Vietnam’’. I hope to soon welcome ASEAN delegations to major tourism events in Vietnam in 2022, such as International Travel Fair (VITM) in Ha Noi and International Travel Expo (ITE-HCMC) in Ho Chi Minh City, Visit Vietnam Year 2022 in Quang Nam Province under the theme “Green Tourism Destination’’.

Further at the conference, the ASEAN Secretary General announced the results related to tourism at the 38th and 39th ASEAN Summits and related meetings held from October 26th, 2021. In which, the main points of the Conference include: reviewing the report of the meeting of ASEAN National Tourism Authorities; considering the Agenda of the Meeting of ASEAN Tourism Ministers and 03 partner countries (China, Japan, Korea), meeting of ASEAN and India Tourism Ministers; information on the preparation of ATF 2023; joining in consultation with international organisations: the World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO), ASEAN-China Centre (ACC), ASEAN-Japan Centre (AJC), ASEAN-Korea Centre, Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA), The ASEAN Tourism Association (ASEANTA), ASEAN Tourism Research Association (ATRA).

In 2021, ASEAN has implemented variety online tourism promotion activities such as: designing new logo for ASEAN tourism (Tagline: A Destination for Every Dream), making clips promoting and renovating the website introducing ASEAN tourism; implementing the ASEAN Tourism Marketing Strategy for 2021-2025, focusing on online promotion on social networks such as Facebook, Instagram via campaigns to draw user interaction; Promotion campaigns have contributed in maintaining the image of ASEAN tourism and interacting with tourists at the idle time of international tourism due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The new marketing strategy has been precisely adjusted based on the forecast trends post COVID-19 and the financial capacity of ASEAN. The strategy was discussed across the Working Group, the Tourism Competition Commission and the National Tourism Authorities. In 2020 and 2021, ASEAN has continued to develop a number of tourism standards as follows: (1) MICE and Event organisation standards; (2) Spa professions standards.

Tourism Information Technology Center / International Cooperation Department
Tags: ASEAN 25th, ATF 2022, VNAT, Deputy Minister, ASEAN tourism,

The Holiday and Travel Magazine
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Vietnam National Administration of Tourism
https://vietnamtourism.gov.vn/english/