by Reinhard Hohler, Chiang Mai
In the context of this year’s International Travel Exhibition (ITE) at Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam, the five tourism ministers of Cambodia, Myanmar, Lao PDR, Thailand and Viet Nam will hold the Mekong region’s top and key tourism industry conference at the Rex Hotel on September 11.
The first conference was held in 2012 during the 8th edition of ITE HCMC, which paved way in cementing a stronger regional co-operation and the birth of the “4 Countries – One Destination” (4CODe) tourism initiative of the four Tourism Alliance Countries of Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar and Viet Nam.

As ITE HCMC does not only serve as a platform for travel trade and business, but also as a catalyst in empowering the travel industry in this part of the world, the 9th ITE HCMC 2013 is honored to announce the incorporation of Thailand into the alliance, making it the biggest and most influential regional co-operation. Now forming the Mekong Tourism Alliance of Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Thailand and Viet Nam, the boldest regional industry plan is capped by the “5 Countries – One Single Destination” (5CODe) tourism initiative and is set to wow the world!

High on the agenda is the question, how to introduce a single visa policy for these 5 countries in the Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS)? But this is just one of yet many bigger things to plan, if seen on the vision to establish the ambitious ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) at the end of 2015.

Senior officials of the following organizations are involved to make the Tourism Conference at ITE HCMC 2013 a big success:
- Ministry of Tourism, Cambodia
- Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism, Lao PDR
- Ministry of Hotels and Tourism, Myanmar
- Ministry of Tourism and Sports, Kingdom of Thailand
- Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Viet Nam
For further information, please go to: www.itehcmc.com