| Danial Norjidi |
SOUTHEAST Asia remains a vibrant and robust tourism destination with a diverse range of attractions and offerings, and the success of the ‘Visit Asean@50 Campaign’ requires collaboration and partnership with relevant stakeholders from both the public and private sectors.
These points were highlighted by Wardi bin Haji Mohammad Ali, Deputy Permanent Secretary (Tourism) at the Ministry of Primary Resources and Tourism, while delivering opening remarks at a special meeting hosted by Brunei Darussalam yesterday for the ‘Visit Asean@50: Golden Celebration’ campaign.
The Visit Asean@50: Golden Celebration initiative is a regional tourism campaign promoting the Asean brand, jointly developed by the 10 Asean national tourism organisations. The deputy permanent secretary began his opening remarks by welcoming the delegates.
“This is the third special meeting and we have had a few events held especially for the campaign,” he said. “In this opportunity, I would like to thank all Asean member states for the continuous support and cooperation collectively in this campaign as well as each Asean member state for coming up with their own national programmes and activities to support the campaign.”
He also extended his sincere appreciation to Asean Tourism Marketing Coordinator, Khun Dee for playing a large role coordinating the campaign since the very beginning.
He went on to note, “There is still a lot of work to be done ahead of us as we are getting closer to the celebration of Visit Asean@50.”
Wardi bin Haji Mohammad Ali, Deputy Permanent Secretary (Tourism) at the Ministry of Primary Resources and Tourism speaks at the meeting. – BAHYIAH BAKIR
“I hope through our meeting today, we will get more insights and be able to tie up the loose ends of the activities as well as getting confirmed commitments from our partners for this campaign before the launching during ATF 2017 in Singapore.”
The deputy permanent secretary highlighted, “Our efforts in promoting our region as a single tourism destination have faced several challenges, namely the current global pandemic disease that is spreading across the region.
“Some countries have even issued travel advisories for their citizens to consider postponing nonessential travel to Southeast Asia,” he continued. “However, despite those challenges and the current global economic downturn, Southeast Asia remains a vibrant and robust tourism destination with a diverse range of attractions and offerings.
“Hence, with this campaign, it is hoped that we would be able to reach our targets and deliverables despite the challenges.”
The launch of the Visit Asean@50 Campaign logo during the Asean Summit in Lao PDR marked a milestone of the campaign, where leaders showed their full support towards the initiative.
“The success of this campaign will only be achieved with collaboration and partnership with the relevant stakeholders both from the public and private sectors,” he said. “I would like to encourage stronger and continuous partnership especially for the success of this campaign and as well as our other future endeavours.”
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