The piece below gives an analysis by the Pacific Asia Travel Association of the
strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the tourism industry in the
region.
A study commissioned by the World Bank to facilitate the integration of the
ASEAN travel and tourism industry into the broader economy has come up with a
detailed analysis of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT)
of the status quo. This is the first study of its kind since ASEAN tourism has only
been seriously promoted for the past two decades. Thus, its findings have
tremendous relevance to other regional and sub-regional groupings as
they embark upon similar initiatives. ASEAN’s objective is to strengthen the
interdependence of its member economies and encourage its members to adopt
“Prosper Thy Neighbour” policies. Over the years, ASEAN heads of state have
passed a number of resolutions and statements affirming this direction, e.g. the
ASEAN Vision 2020, the Vientiane Action Programme (VAP) 2004–2010 following
both the Hanoi Plan of Action (HPA) 1999–2004, the Initiative for ASEAN
Integration (IAI) and the Roadmap for the Integration of ASEAN (RIA).
Eleven priority sectors of integration have been identified and included in the
ASEAN Framework Agreement for the Integration of Priority Sectors, signed in
Vientiane in November 2004, along with the VAP. Each of these priority sectors is
developing a roadmap for economic integration, with detailed and specific
measures to be implemented from 2005 to 2010, with active involvement from
the private sector. These priority sectors are (1) agro-based products; (2) air
travel; (3) automotives; (4) e-ASEAN; (5) electronics; (6) fisheries; (7)
healthcare; (8) rubber-based products; (9) textiles and apparels; (10) tourism;
and (11) wood-based products. Tourism has a strategic role to play in ASEAN
economic growth as well as in enhancing the rich and diverse heritage of the
region. The ASEAN leaders at the Eighth ASEAN Summit in 2002 signed the
ASEAN Tourism Agreement for ASEAN Co-operation in Tourism. This agreement
covers various areas, including the facilitation of tourism investment within the
region. International visitor arrivals to ASEAN countries totalled more than 50.8
million by the end of 2005, reflecting an increase of more than 4.8 percent since
2004 (see Table 1). The region has remained resilient in attracting improved
international arrivals, and ministers from ASEAN member countries have
expressed the importance of the industry working together toward a common
goal. There is a general view, however, that barring some of the internal and
external shocks that have affected visitor arrivals, much more can be done to
boost visitor arrivals to, within, and from ASEAN. As a result, the World Bank
commissioned a Japan-based consultant to conduct a SWOT analysis of the
ASEAN region, particularly in the contexts of promoting an integrated single
destination, increasing intra-ASEAN travel and developing world-class products.
The findings are as follows, with some slight editing for clarity and with
a
dditional information provided by the PATA Strategic Intelligence Centre.
STRENGTHS
• Well-established tourism in member countries: Singapore,
Malaysia, and Thailand already have high annual visitor arrivals.
• Political awareness: The importance of tourism is well recognised
among many ASEAN countries, as highlighted
through ministerial ASEAN meetings and summits.
• A full-time ASEAN Secretariat already exists to coordinate
cooperation and integration efforts.
• Safety: ASEAN member countries have traditionally been
considered safe and visitor-friendly.
• Well-developed business sectors: e.g. Singapore, Malaysia,
Thailand and Indonesia are also being joined by emerging
economies, such as Vietnam, Lao PDR and Cambodia.
• Well-developed entertainment options: Countries already
offer shopping, nightlife activities, etc.
• Well-developed linkages to external markets are in place.
• Greater Mekong Sub region (GMS) alliance: ASEAN integration
should lead to synergistic effects.
• Access: e.g. GMS countries may not necessarily require air travel.
• Member countries have unique destination images.
• World-class airports facilitate travel: e.g. Singapore Changi and
Kuala Lumpur International Airport, as well as the region’s
newest airport, Suvarnabhumi International Airport in
Bangkok, set to open later in the year.
• Diverse tourism resources within the region range from
nature to culture, religion, sports, and health and wellness.
• Seasonality patterns are similar for all ASEAN member
countries, which is conducive to multi-country tour patterns.
• Some member countries have widespread English language
capability.
• Well-developed intra-ASEAN tourism already exists.
• Short-distance travel potential is well suited to the regional
population’s income.
WEAKNESSES
• Countries are at different levels of inbound and outbound
market maturity.
• Countries are at different levels of manpower standards.
• Possible competing strategies are in play: e.g. more than one
country aspiring to be a strategic hub, or countries competing
to be world leaders in particular attractions.
• Poor infrastructure in some countries.
• Progress may be slow due to extra levels of policy-making,
i.e. ministries of tourism/commerce and ASEAN, which may
also conflict.
• Most existing collaborative networks among countries are weak.
• Infrastructure improvements tend to fall outside of ASEAN
initiatives.
• Under-developed market intelligence remains unresolved.
• Poor information and communications technologies (ICT)
persist in some countries. Some member countries still focus
on visitor arrival numbers, with less attention to tourism yields
and dispersion.
• There is inactive collaboration with national flag carriers and
discrepancies exist.
• Marketing campaigns are not integrated and lack a consistent
message in building tourist destination images.
• Trade and investment need to be considered, as well as
inter-firm linkages.
• Visas are required for travellers from outside the region.
• Some source markets are niche-oriented and do not align well
with a multi-destination approach.
Table 1: International visitor arrivals to 9 ASEAN member countries,
2001–2005
OPPORTUNITIES
• Proximity to large and growing Asian markets, such as China
(PRC) and India, and high-expenditure markets, such as the
Middle East, Japan, Chinese Taipei and Korea (ROK), could be
beneficial.
• Mekong tourism development initiatives could have benefits
to ASEAN, e.g. infrastructure improvements.
• ASEAN packages could have more variety, such as city,
ecotourism, etc.
• Liberalisation: Ease of visa requirements and government
regulation of airlines could be helpful.
• Business tourism: ASEAN member countries have close
economic relationships with non-ASEAN countries, e.g. India,
Japan, China (PRC) and Australia.
• Develop the meetings, incentives, conventions and
exhibitions (MICE) market.
• Special interest tours: Vietnam, for example, is promoting
flower tourism in Japan.
• The ASEAN region is suited to hub travel trends.
• World-class events could be leveraged.
• Two-way tourism could be better promoted.
• Intra-regional travel could be increased for leisure, business,
ASEAN Member
Country
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 % Change CAGR %
Cambodia 604,919 786,524 701,014 1,055,202 1,421,615 34.7 23.8
Indonesia 5,153,620 5,033,400 4,467,021 5,321,165 5,002,101 -6.0 -0.7
Lao PAR 673,823 735,662 636,361 894,806 1,095,315 22.4 12.9
Malaysia 12,775,073 13,292,010 10,576,915 15,703,406 16,431,055 4.6 6.5
Myanmar 204,862 217,212 205,610 241,938 232,218 -4.0 3.2
Philippines 1,796,893 1,932,677 1,907,226 2,291,352 2,675,631 16.8 10.5
Singapore 7,522,163 7,567,110 6,127,288 8,328,658 8,943,029 7.4 4.4
Thailand 10,132,509 10,872,976 10,082,109 11,737,413 11,567,341 -1.4 3.4
Vietnam 2,330,050 2,627,988 2,428,735 2,927,876 3,467,757 18.4 10.5
ASEAN Sub-total 41,193,912 43,065,559 37,132,279 48,501,816 50,836,062 4.8 5.4
study and MICE.
• Visiting friends and relatives (VFR) tourism: Economic
migration within ASEAN countries activates VFR tourism.
THREATS
• Unstable political conditions in some countries impact
tourism development.
• Regional crises, e.g. terrorism, avian flu and tsunami,
discourage tourism.
• Contagious disease and its media coverage may affect
international travel demand.
• Lack of crisis management readiness persists in some
countries: Risk management contributes to a positive revival
of tourist destinations in many cases.
• Safety and security are not consistent; conversely,
unnecessarily negative travel advisories are also troublesome.
• Currency fluctuation continues to be a risk.
• Ongoing ethnic and religious conflicts are potentially
problematic.
• National tourism organisations (NTOs) lack the resources to
manage cooperation agreements.
• NTOs lack ownership in plans which have donor assistance.
• Proliferation of high-level political objectives without frontline
implementation indicates a lack of stakeholder-driven
strategies.
• ASEAN campaigns have not always been highly successful,
e.g. ASEAN hotel and tour ‘passes’.
• Full integration is threatened by less-mature countries having
weaker voices.
• Economic and development gaps divide developed countries
and least-developed countries in the region.
• The ASEAN campaign is dependent on contributions from
NTOs, which tend to be low.
• Other regional strategies: e.g. the GMS initiative, which also
promotes a single destination, and though synergy may be
gained, there may be conflicting strategies or exhaustion of
resources from individual member countries.
• Preference given to visit one country: A recent survey
suggests that the majority of visitors to the GMS visit only one
country at a time. Only around 30 percent of tourists visit at
least two countries, and 80 percent of visitors to Thailand
visited only that country.2
• National priorities in marketing often override regional
objectives.
• Time-consuming transit delays occur between countries.
• The ASEAN name is not well-known in long-haul markets.
• Each country conveys a similar image as a tourist destination;
e.g. they have similar tourism resources, such as beaches,
rainforests and cultural assets.
• Some countries do not have offshore tourism marketing
offices.
• Evidence of poverty in some countries is generally
unattractive to international tourists.
• Market characteristics of some external countries are not
well-known, e.g. China (PRC) and India.
• Not all member countries are attractive to neighbouring
tourism.
Asian Development Bank GMS Tourism Sector Strategy Study 2005
VISA LIBERALISATION
It is generally recognised that the ASEAN region is its own best
source market. A key requirement for economic integration is ease
of travel among ASEAN countries, similar to that within the
European Union. Hence, the ASEAN Framework Agreement on Visa
Exemption which was signed in Kuala Lumpur on July 25, 2006.
This is in line with the ASEAN Tourism Agreement, signed on
November 4, 2002 in Cambodia on the facilitation of intra-ASEAN
travel, and the ASEAN Framework Agreement for Integration of
Priority Sectors, signed on November 29, 2004, which commits
ASEAN member countries to providing visa exemption for
intra-ASEAN travel by ASEAN nationals.
The ASEAN Framework Agreement on Visa Exemption lays out
a set of general principles and guidelines toward establishing
and/or renewing bilateral agreements among member countries
on visa exemption for their respective citizens travelling within
the ASEAN region.
At the same time, the wording of the agreement includes a
number of ‘escape clauses,’ which indicate that it could be
some time before the agreement becomes universally applicable.
For example, Article 1 states: “Member Countries, where
applicable, shall exempt citizens of any other Member Countries
holding valid national passports from visa requirement for a
period of stay of up to 14 days from the date of entry, provided
that such stay shall not be used for purposes other than visit.”
The key words here are “where applicable”. They are repeated
in Article 7, which says “Member Countries, where applicable, shall
negotiate and conclude separate bilateral protocols to implement
this Agreement as soon as possible. The implementation of such
bilateral protocols shall come into force on the date as mutually
agreed by the respective Member Countries.”
In essence, the agreement leaves it up to the individual
governments to negotiate the visa waivers bilaterally. However,
that is clearly necessary given the disparity in economic
development between the various countries and the need to
avoid potential problems regarding illegal migration from
developing to developed countries.
There is now movement toward the proposed development
of an ASEAN Business Travel Card and the introduction of a special
ASEAN Tourism Professional (ATP) permit, which would facilitate
the temporary movement of tourism professionals.
This would allow shorter time-frames for granting visas for
temporary movement, accomplished through electronic means,
transparent application processes, simplified renewal and transfer
procedures, and recourse mechanisms to ascertain the status of an
application and reasons for rejection.
STRATEGY TO ACCELERATE THE INTEGRATION OF
TOURISM SERVICES AND AIR TRAVEL IN ASEAN
A strategy paper produced by the ASEAN Secretariat notes that in addition to
visa regulations, tourism is highly dependent on other factors, such as financial
services, health services, and air, maritime and road transport.
The 37th ASEAN Economic Ministers’ Meeting (AEM) in Vientiane in September
2005 agreed that the “integration of tourism and air travel can be done at an
even faster pace”. The Ministers further agreed “to identify additional measures
to accelerate integration in these two services sectors,” and
instructed relevant officials to work toward the formulation of
these measures. Liberalisation of the airline industry in ASEAN is well under
way to improve quality of service, lower air fares, and make airlines
more competitive. (Note: the strategy paper was crafted before oil
prices hit US$75 a barrel.) To fast-track the integration of the air travel sector,
the ASEAN Transport Ministers’ Meeting, held on November 17, 2005 in
Vientiane, tasked the Senior Transport Officials Meeting to consider Singapore’s
proposals to further improve the content and timelines on the Measures for
Passenger Air Services Liberalization under the Roadmap for Integration of the
Air Travel Sector.
Singapore’s proposals included the following main suggestions:
• Accelerating the timeline for Unlimited (or No Limitations on)
3rd and 4th Freedom Traffic Rights for scheduled passenger
services between all ASEAN capital cities to December 2006,
from the original December 2008 timetable;
• Expanding coverage to all ASEAN cities for Unlimited (or No
Limitations on) 3rd and 4th Freedom Traffic Rights for
scheduled passenger services by December 2008, instead of
only for ASEAN capital cities; and
• Expanding coverage to all ASEAN cities for Unlimited (or No
Limitations on) 5th Freedom Traffic Rights for passenger
services by December 2010, instead of only between ASEAN
capital cities.
Additionally, the proposals called for:
• Development of an ASEAN Multilateral Agreement on Air
Services, for conclusion in due time; and
• Development of a conceptual framework for the
establishment of a Single Aviation Market in ASEAN.
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