Malaysia pledged its commitment towards promoting ASEAN as a competitive tourism destination

BRUNEI 13 January 2020 – At the 51st ASEAN Tourism Organisation (NTOs) Meeting in Brunei on 12-13 January 2020, Malaysia has pledged its commitment towards promoting ASEAN as a competitive tourism destination while balancing its development with sustainability and inclusive development. Malaysia’s delegation was headed by H.E. Dato’ Dr. Noor Zari bin Hamat, Secretary General, Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture, Malaysia

In a media statement issued yesterday, Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture Malaysia (MOTAC) said that Malaysia will be collaborating with the ASEAN-China Centre to organise the ASEAN-China Tourism Investment Seminar in Shanghai, China in November 2020. Malaysia will also be leading the initiative to promote ASEAN as a single destination by updating the ASEAN Tourism Packages 2019-2020 that can be used by the NTOs and the private sectors to attract more tourists, especially from the medium and long haul market to visit the region.

“While most of the countries in the world are focusing on increasing competitiveness of their tourism destinations, Malaysia has expressed its opinion that the development of tourism should uphold the principle of “Tourism Protects, Preserve and Conserve Mother Nature, Culture and Heritage” and instil the concept of “Nobody Left Behind”.
 
In this regard, Malaysia as the incoming Chair of the ASEAN Sustainable and Inclusive Tourism Development Committee (ASITDC) for the period of 2020-2021, Malaysia will be working closely with the other ASEAN Member States to initiate and implement more meaningful activities for the new ASITDC Work Plan 2020-2021. In relation to this, Malaysia will be leading the task to conduct the mid-term review of the ASITDC Work Plan 2016-2025.” said MOTAC.

MOTAC also added that Malaysia has expressed its position that ASEAN should embrace the advancement of the digital age, meanwhile at the same time manage the issues related to regulation, investment and taxation arise from this new technology.

“In this regard, Malaysia fully supports the inclusion of “Digital Tourism” as a key activity to be implemented in the ATSP Work Plan for 2020-2021.

For 2019, Malaysia has led the implementation of several key activities under the ATSP including the organisation of the ASEAN Tourism Resources Management and Development Network for Ecotourism held in Kinabatangan, Sabah on 21 to 24 October 2019 and the ASEAN-Japan Tourism Investment Seminar held in Osaka, Japan on 23 October 2019. ” said MOTAC.