ATF: Asean must push development, says minister

Cambodia’s Minister of Tourism, Thong Khon, has urged Asean countries to strengthen tourism promotion and push development.

“The expansion and strengthening of tourism services through human resources training could pave the way for better travel facilitation and connectivity in the region,“ he said.

“The world has started recovering from the global economic downturn. We need to sustain Asean’s fame as the fastest growing tourism destination in the world.”

Tith Chantha, director general of Cambodia’s Ministry of Tourism, added that the Asean region has the “most potential” of any destination in the world, but cooperation was necessary for development.

China, Japan and South Korea have pledged to support Asean’s latest five-year tourism strategic plan.

Lin Shan, from the department of tourism affairs for Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan of China National Tourism Administration, said China and ASEAN countries had cooperated well on tourism development in the past.

“In the future, China is willing to expand tourism cooperation with ASEAN and offer support technically and financially to help ASEAN to fulfill its tourism strategic plan,” said Li.

Despite economic slowdown in 2009 and 2010, tourist arrivals of ASEAN+3 countries in 2010 remained resilient with more than 101 million arrivals, up 14 percent compared to 2009.

ASEAN countries alone attracted 65 million visitors, up 12 percent.