Singapore - South-East Asian tourism ministers are focusing
this week on a joint strategy to woo more cruise liners by promoting
the region as the next Caribbean, participants said Monday.
Stepped up efforts to attract more youth travellers are also on
the agenda of the ASEAN Tourism Forum, being held through Saturday in
Singapore.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) needs a
'concerted effort' to become a compelling cruise destination,
Singapore's Minister of State for Trade and Industry S Iswaran told
The Straits Times.
With only a handful of attractive cruise ports, Asia has yet to
catch up with such popular cruise hubs as the Caribbean and
Mediterranean, he said.
Air links are also being discussed. Iswaran noted how an 'open
aviation regime will pave the way for more flights and competitive
airfares.' This, in turn, will give ASEAN member states the extra
boost to emerge into booming tourism markets.
ASEAN is also bringing forward a plan to permit unlimited flights
between the capital cities of member countries by next year.
Singapore, Thailand and Brunei already have the freedom to fly to
each other's cities. Taking Singapore and Thailand as an example,
Iswaran said that passenger traffic from the city-state to Bangkok
has risen by more than 40 per cent since 2000.
Singapore has also sent 60 per cent more passengers to Phuket in
the same period.
It will be to ASEAN's 'collective benefit' to have each country as
an attractive destination in its own right, Iswaran said.
The 10-member grouping will have to work closer to 'communicate
effectively to the external world so travellers are reassured and can
make informed decisions,' he said.
ASEAN includes Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, the
Philippines, Brunei, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar (Burma).
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
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