China tops ASEAN’s tourism agenda

JAKARTA, 8 November 2012: ASEAN Tourism and China will strengthen business links at the up-coming China International Travel Mart (CITM) in Shanghai, 15 to 18 November.

The China National Tourism Administration (CNTA) has provided ASEAN with two booths to assist ASEAN’s efforts to increase the number of Chinese visitors to the region.

According to the UNWTO’s World Tourism Barometer report for the first half of 2012, ASEAN countries are among the fastest growing destinations in the world, with international visitor arrivals to Myanmar up 36%, Cambodia 26%, Singapore 12%, Philippines 12%, Vietnam 11%, and Thailand 8%.

China continues to be the biggest, or in some instances, the fastest growing contributor of international visitor arrivals to most of those destinations.

UNWTO reported that Southeast Asia as a region showed a 9% increase in arrivals compared to 4% for Europe, 5% for America, and 7% for Africa.

Specifically, between China and Southeast Asia, ASEAN Secretariat statistics show that Chinese tourists visiting ASEAN increased from 3.9 million in 2007 to 7.3 million in 2011. The annual rate of increase accelerated from 6.3% to 9% in the same period. Following the implementation of the November 2010 ASEAN-China Air Transport Agreement, Chinese and ASEAN officials expect the grow rate to accelerate further.

“The latest forecasts we have are that China’s contribution to ASEAN’s international visitor arrivals will continue at an accelerated rate,” said ASEAN-China Centre (ACC) secretary-general. Ma Mingqiang, who is based in Beijing.

He confirmed that China has caught up with the European Union as the biggest supplier of tourists to ASEAN. China and Europe are on par each supply around 9% of ASEAN’s total international visitor arrivals.

ASEAN Tourism will launch a dedicated Chinese language website in January 2013 (www.dongnanya.travel and in cooperation with the ASEAN-China Centre, it will also feature Southeast Asian tourism content on SinaWeibo.com, China’s largest social media platform.

During CITM, ASEAN Tourism representatives will promote the ASEAN Tourism Forum, which takes place in Vientiane, Laos, 17 to 24 January 2013. It will be attended by 150 ASEAN tourism ministers and officials, 800 ASEAN exhibitors and 400 international buyers.

Sourced: ttrweekly