Manado ready to host ASEAN Tourism Forum ATF 2012

The Indonesian city of Manado, capital of the province of North Sulawesi - famous for its friendly people, world class  diving and wonderful food - is set to welcome the hundreds of government and private sector delegates and participants to the ASEAN Tourism Forum – ATF 2012.

To be held at the Golden Kawanua Convention Centre from the 10th - 15th January 2012, ATF is the first in the series of annual events in the global tourism industry agenda.

ATF brings together tourism ministers from all 11 ASEAN countries and senior government officials, and has as important adjunct the annual ASEAN Travex, the B2B forum bringing global tourism business to the entire ASEAN region.

Carrying the theme: ASEAN Tourism for Global Community of Nations, the opening ceremony will take place on Thursday, 12 January 2012, at the Novotel Manado Convention Center, to be officiated by Indonesia’s Minister for Tourism and Creative Economy, DR. Mari Elka Pangestu.

Days earlier, ASEAN senior officials will have convened their meetings, and on 10th. January a special dialogue meeting of all ASEAN NTOs (National Tourism Organizations) will be held with representatives from China, Japan, Korea, India and Russia.

ASEAN Ministers are scheduled to meet on 11th and 12th of January, whilst the ASEAN Tourism Conference will be on Friday the 13th of January.

The TRAVEX itself takes place at the Golden Kawanua Convention Centre, occupying 7,000 square metres of exhibition space, to accommodate the 450 seller booths. 

To date event organiser & regional trade media partner TTG Asia informs that that there are already 970 registered buyers, 400 of whom are hosted, while other buyers come on their own account. 

In 2009 all ASEAN countries together registered total tourist arrivals of 65.68 million tourists, of whom 31.69 million came from within the ASEAN region itself and 33.98 million from outside the ASEAN region.

In the first 7 months of 2011, arrivals grew significantly, totaling 73.67 million total tourist arrivals to ASEAN, comprising 34.8 million tourists from the ASEAN countries themselves and 38.8 million international tourists from outside the South East Asian region.

The Golden Kawanua Convention Center has comprehensive facilities including hotel and restaurants, located only some 15 minutes from the Airport.

Internationally, Manado is served by SilkAir from Singapore, while many domestic flights serve Manado by Garuda Indonesia, Batavia Air, Lion Air and many more, from Jakarta, Bali and Makassar. 

Source - etravelblackboardasia