ACE Director R.J. Gurley and ASEANTA President Felix Cruz shake hands after signing a memorandum to launch a “Visit Southeast Asia” campaign. The effort is supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the ASEAN Tourism Association (ASEANTA). The drive is part of USAID’s ASEAN Competitiveness Enhancement (ACE) project.

USAID Joins Campaign to Raise ASEAN's Image as a Tourist Destination

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

HANOI – Tourism ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) welcomed a new United States Agency for International Development (USAID) project to work with the ASEAN Tourism Association (ASEANTA) to develop a marketing strategy that promotes Southeast Asia as a regional destination.

The campaign will encourage travelers to visit multiple Southeast Asian destinations, stay longer, and spend more money in the region.  The drive is part of the USAID’s ASEAN Competitiveness Enhancement (ACE) project which fosters greater economic integration among ASEAN’s members: Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

The “Visit Southeast Asia” campaign is expected to elevate the status of the region as a destination by building on the previous “Visit ASEAN” campaign.  The ASEAN National Tourism Organizations (NTOs) and the private-sector-led ASEANTA will continue to be the driving forces behind the new campaign.  The new marketing strategy will co-brand ASEAN as the campaign sponsor.

A memorandum of understanding for the partnership was signed by Felix Cruz, president of ASEANTA, and R.J. Gurley, director of the ACE project.  Today’s signing was supported by the ASEAN tourism ministers who in a joint statement thanked the U.S. Government for the technical assistance it has provided through the ACE Project.  They encouraged tourism task forces and working groups to provide guidance and assistance to ACE to ensure the project’s success.

The new campaign is “an opportunity to leverage the natural and cultural diversity of Southeast Asia and bring it to the attention of travelers,” said Vietnam’s Vice Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Tran Chien Thang, the chairman of the ASEAN NTOs and the spokesman for the region’s 10 national tourism organizations.

Some 58 million tourists traveled to Southeast Asia in 2007, mostly to Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand which accounted for nearly 75 percent of international arrivals.  Indonesia, Vietnam, and the Philippines accounted for another 20 percent.  Cambodia and Laos made up most of the balance. 

The number of arrivals is expected to grow with the successful implementation of the ACE marketing and branding campaign that will be designed to raise the profile of Southeast Asia to turn it into a regional tourism destination.

ACE Director Gurley said his team was excited to have forged this partnership and was looking forward to creating a branding and marketing campaign for Southeast Asia.  “ASEAN’s tourism industry is fortunate to have public- and private-sector organizations that share common goals and are willing to partner with one another to encourage travelers to visit more than one country in Southeast Asia, stay longer and spend more in the region,” he said.

The ACE project is one of four projects under USAID’s and the U.S. State Department’s ASEAN Development Vision to Advance National Cooperation and Economic Integration (ADVANCE).  The ADVANCE projects, which were launched in October 2007, foster greater economic integration among the ASEAN members to establish a peaceful, prosperous and stable community of nations.

ACE emphasizes marketing, branding, knowledge management and human-resource solutions to help specific industries within the region achieve and sustain competitiveness. 

Tourism involves numerous economic sectors, promising sizeable growth with its expansion.  Tourism is also labor intensive, so its further development creates new employment opportunities, noted Oscar Palabyab, chairman of the ASEAN Tourism Marketing Taskforce and undersecretary of the Philippines Department of Tourism.

The region’s travel industry “relies on small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), so further development offers significant opportunities for SMEs, including developing new tourism products, upgrading existing products, incorporating natural and cultural content into products, and increasing the return on investment for tourism businesses,” said Mr. Cruz, the president of ASEANTA.

FURTHER READING

• ADVANCE Broadens U.S. Assistance to ASEAN (88 KB PDF)

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