ASEAN tourism ministers underline the importance of youth

By Satish Gupta l eTN Asia
Youth is the key in tourism. Such viewpoint gained prominence during the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Tourism Forum 2007 held in Sinagapore. The tourism ministers from the ASEAN region are counting on youth from across the world as part of their regional tourism drive. Global numbers presented at the ASEAN Tourism Forum 2007 in Singapore showed that up to one-quarter of all travelers are classified in the youth market and ASEAN was described as home to a large number of the "MTV generation," reported local media.

Sharing his viewpoint during the "Shaping the Future of Youth Tourism Forum" in Singapore, Robin Yap, director of Contiki Indonesia Resorts said Singapore is probably the leader of this development and explained why other Asian countries may lag behind when it comes to traveling youths.
"Because of the culture, family background – some markets, families are very well-to-do, some are pretty spoilt and want a lot of things to be taken care of . To ask them to rough it out might be a bit tough," he said according to Channel News Asia, acknowledging that Singaporean youth is more adventurous and more ready to go out on their own and it is this type of market in Asia that youth travel brands such as Contiki want to target.

A number of activities have been conducting recently, specifically targeted at the youth in the region, to foster a sense of the ASEAN community. For instance, Singapore launched the ASEAN Rocks festival, bringing ten of the best bands from ASEAN to perform for five consecutive days. The organizers hoped this will inspire an ASEAN pride amongst the younger generation.
The delegates from ASEAN, China, Japan and South Korea also aimed at promoting the region as a seamless destination as well as increasing connectivity between the countries.
Senior Minister of the Republic of Singapore, Goh Chok Tong, noted that it was important to brand and market ASEAN as a single destination, and not separate countries. In doing this, members need to sustain efforts in jointly supporting the Visit ASEAN Campaign. ASEAN must work towards opening up new air routes and increase air capacities in order to make travel and tourism more convenient and affordable. To this charge, ASEAN has already agreed to implement open skies for capital-to-capital flights by the end of 2008.
"Freer skies within ASEAN and between ASEAN and key countries will not only boost ASEAN's tourism industry but have many positive multiplier effects on our respective economies," said Goh.

February 1, 2007   Posted in: Asia General