Minister calls for boosting ASEAN Plus Three tourism cooperation
Vientiane (VNA) – Minister of Culture, Sports
and Tourism Nguyen Van Hung has suggested the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations (ASEAN) countries to strengthen connection and support ASEAN centres in
China, Japan, and the Republic of Korea (RoK) in tourism promotional activities.
He made the suggestion at the 23rd Meeting of ASEAN Plus
Three Tourism Ministers on January 26, within the framework of the ASEAN
Tourism Forum 2024 (ATF) which is taking place in Vientiane, Laos.
The minister also urged ASEAN members to jointly participate in
exhibitions in the three partner countries and contribute to making the ASEAN
tourism booth more lively by providing publications and display items and sending delegations to the events to introduce their culture, art,
cuisine, and craft villages.
Vietnam stands ready to work closely with other member
states to implement tourism cooperation plans between ASEAN and the three
partner countries to boost the effectiveness of their cooperation,
Hung said.
The Vietnamese official emphasised that the three partner
countries are key tourism markets of not only ASEAN countries but also Vietnam. In 2023, Vietnam welcomed nearly 6 million
visitor arrivals from the three countries, accounting for 47% of total foreign
arrivals, he continued.
Preliminary figures in 2023 showed that ASEAN Plus Three
countries attracted over 147 million visitors last year.
The meeting expressed optimism that the tourism sector
would continue to recover as demand for travel continues to grow.
Participants exchanged views and information on the development of their respective tourism sector in the past year. They noted that
24 activities or 61.5% of items in the ASEAN Plus Three (APT) Tourism Cooperation Work
Plan 2021-2025 have been implemented.
The meeting emphasised the importance of upskilling and
reskilling the tourism workforce, thereby, expressing appreciation to the ASEAN
Plus Three partner countries for their continued commitment in advancing the skills and
knowledge of ASEAN tourism professionals through various training programmes
and activities.
Within the framework of ASEAN-China tourism cooperation, the
meeting highly appreciated China's support for ASEAN-China tourism cooperation
activities, noting that in 2023, China organised three events, namely the
China-ASEAN Tourism Expo 2023, the 2023 China International Travel Mart and the
China-ASEAN Tourism Human Resources Training Programme.
The meeting also appreciated Japan for organising the ASEAN-Japan
Tourism Ministers' Special Dialogue in October 2023 and the country's support
for tourism cooperation activities between ASEAN member countries and Japan.
ASEAN and Japan were encouraged to enhance further
cooperation in the tourism sector and implement initiatives to promote
sustainable tourism including sharing best practices, and advancing mutual
exchange of visitors, based on the joint media statement adopted at the Special Dialogue.
The meeting hailed the RoK for its
continued support of ASEAN-RoK tourism cooperation activities through the Korea
Partnership Initiative for Sustainable Tourism (KOPIST) Programme. It
encouraged ASEAN and the RoK to discuss ways to enhance cooperation with a
focus on activities to support sustainable tourism./.