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ASEAN joins with regional giants in bid to revive tourism
Ministers from the 10-member Association of Southeast
Asian Nations (ASEAN) have joined hands with their counterparts from China,
Japan and South Korea to announce a drive to boost the region’s battered
tourism industry by encouraging greater intra-regional travel, cooperating
to prevent terrorism, and promoting tourism among extra-regional market
groupings.
Speaking after the first ASEAN+3 meeting of tourism
ministers, convened in the wake of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS)
crisis, Tourism and Sports Minister Sontaya Kunplome said that the meeting
had signed a ‘Beijing Charter’ pledging cooperation in the revival of
the region’s tourism industry.
“The charter stated with confidence that SARS was a
short-term problem and countries in Southeast Asia and the Far East still
remain among the most popular tourism destinations in the world,” Sontaya
said.
Sontaya stressed that Thailand’s tourism industry has
bounced back quickly after the SARS crisis, but warned that other factors -
most particularly terrorism - as evidenced by last week’s bombing of the
Marriott hotel in Jakarta, remained a threat to the region’s tourism
industry. He urged the meeting to quickly draw up measures to boost
cooperation and to ensure the continuation of tourist confidence.
The meeting passed six unanimous resolutions. First, it
described tourism as an important bridge for global friendship, which also
played a vital role in promoting economic and social development and in
creating the roots of international peace.
Second, the meeting noted that the tourism industry was
volatile in the face of external events, whether natural disasters,
terrorism, politics or health concerns. The ministers will cooperate in
drawing up a system to boost the efficiency and effectiveness of tourism
collaboration, and to extend and amend all stages of tourism security
measures.
Third, the ministers observed that tourism was caught up
in the natural flow of persons from one country to another. This in turn led
to problems of administration. To help combat this, the countries present at
the meeting agreed that their respective tourism agencies would exchange
data, experiences and tools in order to facilitate tourism and ensure
maximum ease of travel, while if a crisis should occur, the country affected
would solve the problem and issue warnings to the other countries in the
grouping.
Fourth, the ministers agreed to amend procedures for
crossing international boundaries, in particular for members of the regional
grouping, to facilitate intra-regional travel. Fifth, the meeting agreed to
upgrade the quality of regional tourism and ensure tourism safety. Finally,
the ministers stressed that the SARS crisis had now disappeared, and that
the member countries were waiting to receive tourists with open arms. (TNA)
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Emirates’ launch-flights arrive in Auckland
Maurice Flanagan, vice chairman and group president,
arrived on the second inaugural flight, from Melbourne, and was greeted by
the mayor of Manukau City, Sir Barry Curtis. Sheikh Ahmed’s delegation
included New Zealander Gary Chapman, president Dnata and Associated
Companies; Ghaith Al Ghaith, executive vice president commercial operations
worldwide; and Ram Menen, senior vice president cargo.
New Zealand’s prime minister expressed her delight with
Emirates’ new services to New Zealand and was pleased that the routes were
launched only nine months after she had visited Dubai and discussed the
possibility with Sheikh Ahmed and Maurice Flanagan.
Sheikh Ahmed, making his first visit to New Zealand,
said, “We hope our new service to Auckland will help to enhance the
relationship between the UAE and New Zealand and bring more tourists and
business travelers to your country.”
The new services offer passengers the choice of 14
flights weekly across the Tasman Sea with the further choice of two
Australian gateways. On October 26, those numbers will increase when
Emirates launches a new daily service to Brisbane, which will continue on to
Auckland. Flights via Sydney and Brisbane will provide convenient
connections from the Middle East, while flights via Melbourne increase the
options for the Australian traveler.
Emirates plans to provide a major boost to the Auckland
route by operating the new Airbus A340, non-stop between Dubai and Sydney
and onwards to Auckland from December.
Emirates Holidays has also produced two packages enabling
leisure travelers to experience the spectacular New Zealand landscape with
the self-drive option. The North Island tour takes in Auckland, Pauanui,
Rotorua, Napier and Wellington. The South Island Adventure includes
Christchurch, Dunedin, Te Anau and Queenstown.
Cargo loads on both inaugural flights were full with
shipments for Singapore, Sydney/Melbourne in addition to Auckland. Shipments
into Auckland comprise spare parts, personal effects and electrical goods
while fresh produce is expected to form most shipments out of Auckland.
New luxury hotel opens in Bangsaen
Minister optimistic of the future of tourism
Songklod Kaewvisit
The latest addition to high standard accommodation in the
eastern region, the Tide Resort, located on the beachfront in Bangsaen
celebrated its soft opening last week.
 Sontaya
Khunpluem, Minister for Tourism and Sports, serves lunch offerings to the
holy monks who performed the ceremonies.
Owned by Somchai Khunpluem, the mayor of Saensuk
municipality, the new hotel is considered to be of the highest standards
comparable to any five star hotel in the world.
His three sons, including Sontaya Khunpluem, minister for
Tourism and Sports, Wittaya Khunpluem, permanent secretary to the Ministry
of Human Stability and Development and the youngest, Narongchai Khunpluem,
as well as Dr. Preecha Kittikhun, director of the Chonburi general hospital
were in attendance during the religious ceremonies performed by nine holy
monks.
 An
exterior view of the new luxurious resort.
Sontaya Khunpluem said, “Speaking as the minister of
tourism and sports, I can say that Thailand’s tourism industry is
recovering from the recent crisis and is already at near normal levels. We
are now seeing tourists from our target markets and others returning to
Thailand for their holidays again. Thailand is now back on track to achieve
our goal of around 10 million visitors this year. This should make many
hotels and tour operators breathe a sigh of relief.”
The Tide Resort is scheduled to officially have its grand
opening on October 18, providing 5 star services for its guests.
Thailand hopes to overtake Malaysia in Asian tourism stakes
Thailand hopes to capitalize on the revival of its
tourism sector after the SARS crisis by overtaking Malaysia as Asia’s
number two tourist destination, with the ‘Privilege Card’ scheme serving
to nudge up tourist numbers, according to a senior official at the Tourism
and Sports Ministry.
Krirk-krai Jirapaet, assistant to the tourism and sports
minister, said that Thailand’s tourism industry had now successfully
bounced back from the SARS crisis, with tourist numbers for June down by
only 24 percent on last year’s figures, compared to 50 percent in April.
He said that conversations with hoteliers in this southern resort province
of Phuket and the eastern resort city of Pattaya had convinced him that
hotel bookings were on the rise, and expressed confidence that by August the
tourist situation would have completely returned to normal.
While noting that Thailand, with an annual average of
around 11 million tourists, was currently Asia’s third most popular
tourism destination after China, with 33 million tourists, and Malaysia with
12 million tourists, Krirk-krai voiced hope that Thailand would overtake
Malaysia to take second place in the near future.
“In the short-term, we can’t compete with China, as
China is an extremely large country. We must, therefore, endeavor to take
second place. Before the emergence of SARS, we aimed for 11 million tourists
this year, but we’ve had to bow to inevitable following the SARS crisis,
as tourist numbers in all countries have fallen. We now predict that this
year nearly 11 million tourists will visit Thailand,” Krirk-krai said.
The government is promoting a number of measures to
attract more foreign visitors to Thailand, such as the Thailand Privilege
Card, a 1 million baht card aimed at the world’s rich and famous, who by
purchasing the card will obtain privileges in terms of a variety of
visitor-related services. The move may help Thailand emerge as Asia’s
number two tourist destination. (TNA)
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