SIHANOUKVILLE, Cambodia, 21 January 2022: ASEAN’s tourism ministers officially announced the reopening of ASEAN tourism at the close of their meetings held in this coastal resort town earlier this week.

Representing the tourism industries of the 10-country community, the ministers launched their vision for economic restoration after more than two years battling the Covid-19 pandemic.

While acknowledging the fight to rein in Covid-19 is far from over, they outlined a shared strategy to drive recovery in the region’s tourism industry.

Reopening standouts

The ministers highlighted the need to urgently launch domestic tourism in each of the 10* countries and ease border restrictions to encourage intra-regional tourism within ASEAN.

They endorsed proposals to establish dedicated ASEAN travel gates at border checkpoints and create digital vaccination cards in a single format recognised by all the 10 countries.

But they cautioned that extending the Covid-19 vaccine campaigns remained the crucial component to achieve progress and ensure a safe reopening of tourism within ASEAN.

ASEAN travellers can expect core public health rules such as face mask-wearing, social distancing and the work at home initiatives to remain to limit the impacts of new variants. The ministers stressed that we are moving to a new normal that should enable us to live with Covid-19 as it pivots from pandemic to endemic possible by this year’s second quarter.

In their statement, the ASEAN tourism ministers encouraged the tourism industry to ensure services are compliant with all ASEAN hygiene and safety guidelines.

 Cambodia’s  Minister of Tourism, Thong Khon, also announced the adoption of the New ASEAN Tourism Logo and ASEAN Safe Travel Stamp “Safe and Warm” as part of the plans to support tourism recovery.

During ATF 2022, 19 cities won the  2nd ASEAN Clean Tourist City Awards, including three cities in Cambodia, during an award ceremony at the Sokha Beach Hotel, Sihanoukville.

Award winners.

* Brunei: Tutong city.
* Cambodia: Battambang, Sihanoukville and Siem Reap.
* Laos: Luang Prabang, Pakse and Viengxay.
* Malaysia: George Town, Langkawi and Muar.
* Myanmar: Mandalay, Nay Pyi Taw  and Myeik.
*Thailand: Khon Kaen, Pattaya and Ko Mak.
* Vietnam: Halong, Dalat  and Vung Tau.

Commenting on the awards,  Minister of Tourism Thong Khon said they would “strengthen the attraction and competitiveness of ASEAN tourism cities as well as the quality of products and tourism services across the region.”

*ASEAN members: Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

SIHANOUKVILLE, Cambodia, 21 January 2022: ASEAN tourism ministers face a reality check as the latest data on the region’s tourist arrivals shows a massive drop of 211.33% since 2020 caused by Covid-19 lockdowns.

ASEAN’s Tourism Ministers, who attended in-person or virtually during their meetings earlier this week, said the massive 211. 33% decline caused the loss of millions of jobs and business closures due to stringent travel restrictions across the ASEAN 10-country region.

Despite their optimistic reopening tourism declaration announced at the opening celebrations at ATF in Sihanoukville, strict travel restrictions continue to hold back tourism recovery, particularly in Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam. Thailand is considering this week a proposal to resume its Test & Go scheme after public health authorities suspended it following the emergence of the highly contagious Omicron variant in mid-November. It immediately stalled recovery and impacted regional travel to other ASEAN destinations.

Countries that counted tourists by the million have faced two years when tourist arrivals shank to just a few thousand. Thailand saw visits fall from close to 40 million in 2019 to around 200,000 at the close of 2021. It looks forward to welcoming 5 million tourists this year, or if Chinese tourists return possibly 8 million.

Tourism ministers count on travel resuming from China, Japan and Korea over the next six months to kick-start recovery. Still, there are no immediate signs that China will reopen the door for outbound travel any time soon. Tourism experts warn that despite what tourism ministers declare, recovery to anything like pre-pandemic arrival levels is unlikely until 2024 or beyond.

In the meantime, ASEAN’s tourism ministers focus on restoring and strengthening objectives to nudge recovery. They need to restore the ASEAN tourism sector to get jobs back and support the reopening of tourism businesses. It will take massive financial bailout schemes that have been few and far between over the last two years of the pandemic. Beyond that, strengthening cooperation to adopt a more sustainable, responsible, and resilient tourism model remains challenging.

SIHANOUKVILLE, 20 January 2022: ASEAN Tourism Forum’s Travex trade show opened Wednesday with officials claiming a turnout of 350 delegates from 29 countries.

A far cry from the usual 1,000 plus attendance, the 40^th edition did make a statement on the resilience of the region’s tourism industry in the face of the global Covid-19 pandemic. With the Omicron infections surging in all 10 countries of the ASEAN Community, there was a clear risk in attending an international trade event. Mid-way through the five-day event, officials confirmed no reports of Covid-19 cases, while travel trade executives said attending the show would restore confidence in regional travel.

Commenting on the health risks, Anantara Angkor Resort general manager Chin Pitak said: “It’s a wait-and-see situation but (the Omicron variant) lasts much shorter than the past outbreaks … we have a high rate for vaccinations in Cambodia, including the rollout of the third dose nationwide… coverage is now only second to Singapore in Asia.”

IMCT director of events Peter Tay, who conducts projects for PATA Cambodia, called sellers attending the Travex trade show ‘lion hearts’, adding ATF was “a step towards tourism recovery from 2022 onwards.”

Even travelling to Sihanoukville on the southern coast of Cambodia presented challenges. Sellers from Medan Indonesia left their homes before dawn on 16 January to arrive at the venue in Sihanoukville, Cambodia, late in the evening of 17 January. It illustrated the airline connection issues facing travellers within the 10-country ASEAN region, particularly between secondary cities.

But media attention shifted from ‘lion hearts’ to the arrival of Myanmar’s Minister of Hotels and Tourism Htay Aung, who lead a small delegation on behalf of the country’s oppressive military junta. He was warmly welcomed by Cambodia’s Minister of Tourism Thong Thon. 

Htay Aung congratulated Cambodia for taking steps to safely reopen tourism, saying the experience would be a role model for Myanmar to restore its tourism industry.”

In contrast, Myanmar is teetering on the verge of civil war as the country’s military junta crushes street protests and opposition while ignoring ASEAN’s five-point policies of engagement on resolving the crisis. Back home in Myanmar, travel industry staff, tour guides and entrepreneurs are imprisoned by the military without trial. Last December, travel executives in the region appealed to Htay Aung to step in and seek the release of a popular tour guide without success. There are very few travel colleagues from Myanmar attending this year’s ATF. Their careers and business have been devastated since the 1 February 2021 military coup.

While Cambodia welcomed the military junta’s appointed minister of tourism at the ASEAN Tourism Forum’s official government meetings, a Reuters quoted Singapore’s Prime Minister saying the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) should continue excluding Myanmar’s junta from its meeting until it cooperates on agreed peace plans. It could take years before Myanmar once more travels the path back to democracy and revives its battered economy and tourism industry.