ASEANTA inks agreement to promote Southeast Asia

CEBU, Philippines - A Memorandum of Understanding was signed by the ASEAN Travel Association and the ASEAN Competitiveness Enhancement Project of the United States Agency for International Development/Regional Development Mission Asia to further promote Southeast Asia as a leading travel destination.

In the ASEAN Tourism Forum in Hanoi, Vietnam last January of this year, ASEANTA and the USAID/RDMA through the ACE Project signed the MOU to promote Southeast Asia above other travel regions like Europe, Caribbean and the South Pacific.

ACE is one of four projects under USAID/RDMA’s advance program that is helping out the establishment of an ASEAN Community by 2015.

In line with this, ASEANTA and the ASEAN National Tourism Organizations, will be launching the “Southeast Asia: Feel the Warmth,” the new destination marketing campaign for the region. Though Southeast Asia will be the destination brand, ASEAN will be co-branded as a sponsor organization for the campaign.

This new destination marketing strategy was unanimously endorsed by the ASEANTA Board.

ASEANTA President and PAL vice president for marketing support Felix J. Cruz said that the strategy will be a great success if public awareness would be raised on this and more information about the region would be shared. “We should encourage travelers to visit the region and better, if they visit not just one destination but to include another in their plans,” he added.

Through the website, Southeast-Asia.com, the public would get to see more of what the region has to offer and will encourage them to visit and plan different places within Southeast Asia.

The site would also help in the booking of flights, hotels as well as the tours that are offered which covers more than one ASEAN-member country.

The online campaign will be branded as the official website of ASEAN and ASEANTA and offer hyperlinks to both organizations.

Though the site is still under development, it will benefit large or small suppliers of ASEAN travel and tourism products that have a searchable web presence. But private-sector stakeholders that have not yet marketed their companies and services online would be given assistance by ACE and ASEANTA and will provide opportunities, information and tools to help them take that step.

Helping out these companies in marketing strategy, campaign and technical assistance is in accordance with ACE Project’s mandate to give assistance in the promotion of the ASEAN’s regional tourism competitiveness.

Aside from the private sector dealing with tourism products and services, the project is also aimed to help the textile and apparel sector.—AJ de la Torre