ASEAN DISCUSSES MEASURES TO OVERCOME ECONOMIC MELTDOWN

From Sabarina Baharom
HANOI, Jan 9 (Bernama) -- The 29th Meeting of Asean Tourism Ministers
Thursday discussed ways to strengthen the regional tourism industry, taking into
account the global economic meltdown.

Malaysia's Tourism Minister Azalina Othman Said said one of the
ways to overcome the economic challenge was to focus on intra-travel among Asean
member states for the next two years.

"In view of the global economic challenges this year and the next, the
meeting discussed rolling out a tactical Asean marketing campaign with focus on
intra-travel among member countries," she said.

However, she added, Malaysia would also continue promoting its existing
Zoom!Malaysia campaign that focused on domestic tourism.

Speaking to Malaysian journalists on the sidelines of the meeting, Azalina
said Asean tourism ministers had come up with "four tactical strategies" to
overcome the global challenges, including implementing a common tourism policy
for all Asean member states.

"Among the strategies is to declare the next two years as the Youth
Travellers Year to encourage young people to explore Asean tourism products,"
she said after attending the opening of the two-day meeting which kicked off
here Thursday.

In conjuction with the meeting, a travel exhibition is also being held, with
Malaysia having sent a 500-strong delegation including tourism officials, and
buyers and sellers in the industry.

Azalina said the youth travel programme was also in line with the existing
Tourism Malaysia programme in promoting tourism among students.

"Our 3P (Students Tourism Programme) requires students to set up clubs to
promote domestic tourism and patriotism," she said, adding that there were
already 1,000 such clubs actively taking part in the programme.

Under the programme, each club received RM500 to start and run such a
club, she added.

Earlier, the Asean Tourism Ministers Meeting was declared open by
Vietnam's Vice-Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Tran Chien Thang.

Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines,
Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam all sent delegates to the meeting.

Representatives of the Asean Competitiveness and Enhancement (ACE)
Project, Asean-Japan Centre and the Australian embassy in Vietnam are also
attending the meeting as observers.

-- BERNAMA