Next year’s ASEAN Tourism Forum (ATF) will be one of the biggest ATFs, thanks to overwhelming response from sellers, buyers and media to attend the event, to be held in Hanoi from January 5 to 12. All registrations for ATF 2009 are now closed. Despite the global financial crisis, or perhaps because of it, ATF 2009 is sold-out, with organisers at press time doing their best to accommodate more than 550 booths at the Vietnam Exhibition Fair Center.
Vietnam, which hosts ATF for the first time ever, is attracting an unusually high response from buyers, and 400 of them will be hosted. In addition, there will be trade buyers attending Travex on their own account. Seventy international media will also be hosted. Thai organisations, hotels and tour operators will represent the majority of exhibitors, followed by sellers from Vietnam, Indonesia and Singapore.
In an earlier interview with TTG Asia, Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism Minister, Hoang Tuan Anh, said the hosting of ATF was timely with Vietnam’s accession to the World Trade Organization and dramatic growth in tourism (more than 16 per cent annually). “Vietnam is now seen as an attractive destination due to its high quality and distinctive products, and considerable improvements in its infrastructure,” he said.
As one of the prioritized sectors, ASEAN tourism industry has been making significant contributions to the course of integration, strengthening exchange and consolidating peace in the region.
2009 will be the last year for ASEAN to achieve full integration in moving towards the realization of an ASEAN Economic Community. In order to bring into play its role, tourism should maintain the momentum for the new pace of sustainable development, to address newly emerging issues and challenges such as global climate changes, environmental degradation, to pave the progressive roads for future prosperity.
In this regard, the theme for ATF 2009 “ASEAN Tourism – Striving for a New Height” is a reflection of the determination and dedication of ASEAN to the new initiatives that boost the ASEAN tourist brand image and promote ASEAN as a single tourism destination in this era of global competition.
