ASEAN tourism ministers stress air connectivity as major forum concludes

ASEAN countries voiced their commitment to jointly address challenges in developing tourism connectivity with the outside world, as a regional tourism summit concluded in Indonesia on Feb 5.

Tourism connectivity was the most crucial issue mentioned by tourism ministers from the Association of South East Asia Nations at the end of the four-day ASEAN Tourism Forum in the central Java city of Yogyakarta.

"ASEAN needs to strengthen connectivity by creating joint tourist packages and transportation connectivity between cities in Southeast Asia," Indonesia's Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy Sandiaga Uno said at a news conference after the forum.

At the Feb 5 media briefing, Uno, as well as other ASEAN tourism ministers, stressed that direct flights from non-ASEAN countries are crucial for the ASEAN region to boost tourist arrivals.

"We need access to direct flights, notably to India, China and Korea," Philippine Tourism Secretary Christina Garcia Frasco said.

Uno noted that there are no direct flights yet from India to Indonesia despite the fact that Indians are among the five largest nationalities in foreign tourist arrivals in Southeast Asia's largest economy.

Indian ambassador to ASEAN Jayant Namdeorao Khobragade said ASEAN and India had held meetings over 2023-2027 working plans that would include 17 joint activities in tourism.

Satvinder Singh, deputy secretary-general for ASEAN economic community, said Southeast Asia is a highly attractive tourism location as it offers regional destinations so close in distance and yet so rich and diverse in culture, historical sites, cuisines, landscapes, modern metropolises and adventure activities.

Singh noted, citing a Forbes report, that five of the 10 members of ASEAN had been featured as the world's 50 most beautiful places to visit. He also pointed out that Tripadvisor, the world's largest tourism website, had recently unveiled its 2023 travel choice awards that featured six ASEAN destinations.

ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Timor-Leste made a debut at an ASEAN meeting on Feb 3, marking a move closer towards its full membership in ASEAN. But tourism of the new country can also be promising.

The writer is a freelance journalist for China Daily.