Xinhuanet: Thank you, Secretary-General, for giving this interview. As 2017 marks the Year of ASEAN-China Tourism Cooperation, could you elaborate on its background and its significance to ASEAN-China relations?
Yang Xiuping: It is my great pleasure to have this interview. As an important cooperation partner of the ASEAN-China Centre (ACC), Xinhuanet has done a lot to cover ASEAN-China relations and ACC’s work, which we greatly appreciate.
Since the dialogue process was launched in 1991, ASEAN-China relations have travelled an extraordinary journey and made remarkable achievements. As of 2015, China had been ASEAN’s largest trading partner for seven consecutive years whereas ASEAN had been China’s third largest trading partner for five years in a row. ASEAN is China’s fourth largest export market and second largest source of import. People-to-people exchanges between the two sides are frequent as witnessed by more than 23 million visitors and more than 190,000 exchanges of students in the past year. China has set up 31 Confucius Institutes and 32 Confucius Classrooms in ASEAN countries as well as four Chinese Cultural Centres in Thailand, Singapore, the Lao PDR, and Cambodia. As a matter of fact, ASEAN-China relations today is regarded as the most robust and fruitful relationship compared with other ASEAN's dialogue partners. This all-round, multi-tiered, and wide-ranging relationship has expanded the converging interests of both sides and yielded tangible benefits to our 2 billion people.
Tourism cooperation has been one of the bright spots of ASEAN-China relations. Chinese statistics show that in 2015, the number of bilateral visits between ASEAN and China hit a record high of 23.64 million, among which the number of Chinese tourists surged to 17.09 million and that of ASEAN travelers reached 6.55 million. In the first three quarters of 2016, mutual visits topped 22 million. China has become ASEAN’s largest source of tourists. Of China’s top 15 countries of tourists, six are from ASEAN countries. There were more than 2,700 international flights shuttling between China and ASEAN countries every week in summer and autumn seasons in 2016. Such close interactions and cooperation have given a strong boost to the economic and social development of both ASEAN countries and China and played an important part in enhancing people’s friendship which has consolidated the public support for the development of bilateral relations.
A series of spectacular activities were held in 2016 as it marked the 25th Anniversary of ASEAN-China dialogue relations and the Year of Educational Exchange. Last September, at the 19th China-ASEAN Summit held in Vientiane, the Lao PDR, leaders of both sides designated 2017 as the ASEAN-China Year of Tourism Cooperation with a view to increasing cooperation and personnel exchanges through a host of activities. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang stressed at the Summit the importance of prioritizing education and tourism cooperation and making people-to-people exchanges a new pillar for ASEAN-China relations. He also expressed China’s readiness to discuss a plan for tourism cooperation and set a target to achieve 30 million mutual visits by 2020. This fully demonstrates the commitment of both sides to tourism cooperation and charts the course for future cooperation.
Tourism, being the most direct and natural way for people-to-people contact, will help promote cultural exchanges and boost friendship. The United Nations has designated 2017 as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development. Thus, to carry out various activities in this important year for tourism cooperation will definitely serve the common interests of ASEAN and China. Moreover, it will contribute greatly to the sustainable development of the region and beyond. I am confident that with the concerted efforts of both sides and the wide participation of people from all walks of life, the Year of Tourism Cooperation will inject strong impetus to ASEAN-China relations.
Xinhuanet: In your view, what makes ASEAN countries popular tourism destinations for the Chinese people? According to your knowledge, what new measures will be introduced by ASEAN to promote tourism cooperation? With the implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative, what opportunities will be opened up in the area of tourism cooperation?
Yang Xiuping: ASEAN and China are each other’s important source and destination of tourism. There are unique advantages and broad prospects for the two sides to carry out tourism cooperation.
First, geographical and cultural advantages. ASEAN countries and China are close neighbours connected by mountains, rivers, and sea. Similar cultures and customs, a long history of friendly exchanges and geographical proximity have brought ASEAN countries and China close to each other. Because of such close bond, visiting each other is like visiting relatives or friends. Moreover, the availability of international flights, especially the opening of new direct flights, provides flexible and convenient choices for travelers on both sides.
Second, resource and market advantages. China and ASEAN countries boast abundant natural resources, splendid culture, history and tradition, and fascinating natural landscapes. As many as 11 natural and 17 cultural heritage sites on the ASEAN side and 50 on the Chinese side are inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List, for instance, Angkor of Cambodia, Borobudur Temple Compounds of Indonesia, Town of Luang Prabang of the Lao PDR, Malacca and George Town of Malaysia, Pyu Ancient Cities of Myanmar, Historic Town of Vigan of the Philippines, Historic City of Ayutthaya of Thailand, and Ha Long Bay of Viet Nam, to name a few. These places have attracted an increasing number of Chinese tourists. Both sides enjoy promising tourism markets. In 2015 alone, over 120 million outbound visits were made by Chinese tourists and China received 130 million inbound tourists from abroad. Forecasts show that by 2020, the number of per capita travel times by Chinese tourists will double on the current basis. According to the statistics provided by the ASEAN Secretariat, ASEAN countries are expected to receive 121 million visitors by 2017.
Third, policy and development advantages. As ASEAN countries and China are now at a crucial stage of rapid growth, they put greater emphasis on the development of the tourism sector and regard each other as an important cooperation partner. According to my knowledge, China is working on more favorable policies and measures in light of the tourism development of ASEAN countries, and will develop market planning to expand two-way tourism cooperation. Apart from the central government, some provinces of China are also working to promote unique local tourism products. For instance, Yunnan, Guangxi and other Chinese border provinces have been actively promoting recommended itinerary for cross-border road trip. ASEAN has also endorsed the ASEAN Tourism Strategic Plan 2016-2025 with its vision to make ASEAN a quality tourism destination. In recent years, ASEAN countries such as Brunei, Cambodia, the Lao PDR, and Thailand have given priority to the Chinese market and appealed to the Chinese travelers through several effective means, for instance, producing tourism handbook in Chinese language, rolling out tailor-made marketing strategies, streamlining visa procedures and developing high-end tourism products.
Currently, both sides are actively planning for relevant activities to celebrate the Year of Tourism Cooperation. Last October, at the first ASEAN-China National Tourism Organizations Meeting held in Guilin, China, broad consensus was reached on strengthening new tourism cooperation platforms of ASEAN and China and on preparations for the events related to the Year of Tourism Cooperation. At the same time, ASEAN has already launched “Visit ASEAN@50: Golden Celebration 2017” to mark the 50th Anniversary of ASEAN. This campaign is designed to further strengthen ASEAN Community building and foster popular tourism destinations. It involves 50 excellent travel experiences and 50 highlight events. China is among the key target audience of the campaign which was launched during the China International Travel Mart 2016 in Shanghai with the support of ACC.
Both the ASEAN Community and the Belt and Road Initiative place importance on people-to-people and cultural exchanges where tourism cooperation can be instrumental. A great deal can be achieved in tourism cooperation between ASEAN and China as both sides are working on the building of the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, the upgraded ASEAN-China FTA, and the establishment of a Lancang-Mekong tourist cities cooperation alliance, all of which will bring new opportunities to tourism cooperation between ASEAN and China
Xinhuanet: We know that promoting tourism cooperation is a priority area of ACC. Could you talk about what ACC has done in this area and what ACC plans to achieve in this Year of Tourism Cooperation?
Yang Xiuping: As an inter-governmental organization co-founded by 10 ASEAN Member States and China, ACC came into being as a result of the rapid development of ASEAN-China relations and carries the aspirations of the 11 countries to promote practical cooperation in various fields. Since its inception in 2011, ACC has worked actively to implement the important consensus reached by the leaders of both sides and advance practical cooperation in trade, investment, education, culture, tourism, and media. We have completed more than 100 flagship projects and organized or participated in more than 500 activities, fully harnessing our strength as a one-stop information and activities centre. Our work has been widely recognized. Last November, in the congratulatory message of Mr. Wang Yi, Minister of Foreign Affairs of China, to ACC’s fifth anniversary, he mentioned that “Over the past five years, ACC has started from scratch, developed from strength to strength and become a special bond and important platform for promoting friendly exchanges and practical cooperation between China and ASEAN, making positive contribution to China-ASEAN relations.”
ACC has all along attached importance to tourism cooperation. By leveraging its strengths, ACC has worked actively to facilitate exchanges and cooperation between governments and tourism agencies.
First, supported and engaged in the building of platforms for tourism cooperation. We organized the ASEAN-China Tourism Cooperation Forum, took an active part in ASEAN-China Tourism Exhibition, ASEAN-China Seminar Among Cities with Cruise Economy, ASEAN-China Forum on Traditional Medicine and Health Tourism, ASEAN Tourism Forum, ASEAN Ecotourism Forum, etc., where we made recommendations for tourism cooperation.
Second, assisted ASEAN countries in drafting their national tourism development policies. ACC attended the meetings of ASEAN Tourism Ministers and Departments on Development Planning and Marketing, contributed our share to the drafting of the ASEAN Tourism Strategic Plan 2016-2025 and the campaign plan for the celebration of the 50th anniversary of ASEAN in 2017, and helped the ASEAN Secretariat identify the sole cooperation partner in China for tourism promotion.
Third, carried out professional training in ASEAN countries. ACC has worked to connect the tourism markets of both sides and helped ASEAN countries improve their tourism services. In recent years, ACC has held six professional training workshops on capacity building in Indonesia, Brunei, Malaysia and the Philippines in collaboration with top Chinese universities. Last November, we co-organized the Tourism Seminar on China-Ready with Lao Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism to enhance the capacity of local tourism professionals to promote understanding of the Chinese travelers. These activities are very well received by tourism practitioners from both sides.
Fourth, promoted the bilateral tourism resources in various forms. ACC partnered with CCTV, National Geographic Traveler and other media for documentaries shooting, organized featured reports and media familiarization trips, and compiled and translated tourism promotion materials of ASEAN countries into Chinese language. Under the theme of “Discovering New ASEAN”, the media coverage focused on road trip, maritime tourism, and new tourism products of ASEAN countries. In 2016, we compiled and translated A Guidebook of ASEAN Tourism in collaboration with the ASEAN Secretariat to introduce hundreds of ASEAN countries’ travel routes to Chinese travelers, with each itinerary covering two to three ASEAN countries, which fully showcases the diversity of tourism resources of ASEAN. Moreover, ACC co-organized the ASEAN-China Tourism Photo Contest 2016. The 5,000-plus photos collected at the Contest displayed the breathtaking landscape and vivid culture and customs of ASEAN countries. ACC also set up ASEAN-China Tourism Cooperation Pavilion at the third Sichuan International Travel Expo and China International Travel Mart where we contributed our thoughts on ways and means to deepen tourism cooperation.
To mark the Year of ASEAN-China Tourism Cooperation and echo ASEAN’s tourism campaign “Visit ASEAN@50 Golden Celebration 2017”, ACC has designed three flagship projects in tourism, namely, “Promoting the Diversified ASEAN-China Tourism Resources”, “ASEAN-China Eco-tourism Development Seminar”, and “ASEAN-China Tourism Capacity Building Project”. We will carry out a series of activities to promote tourism resources and products both in ASEAN and China and enhance people-to-people exchanges, including organizing ASEAN-China Tourism Festival, planning documentaries shooting on ASEAN tourism destinations, exploring the potential of Eco-tourism of ASEAN and China, helping ASEAN countries better understand the needs of Chinese tourists and improve tourism services.
Xinhuanet: Could you share with us some observations and recommendations for tourism cooperation between ASEAN and China going forward?
Yang Xiuping: ASEAN-China tourism cooperation, built on a sound foundation, enjoys enormous potential and ample space for further growth. It is important for both sides to continue to strengthen communication and contact and actively explore new ways and means for win-win results.
First, improve the mechanism for exchanges and cooperation. We hope that both sides will take the Year of Tourism Cooperation as an opportunity to further improve the cooperation mechanism between tourism agencies of ASEAN countries and China and provide more policy guidance and support for relevant cooperation to lift the bilateral cooperation to a new level.
Second, explore the new driving force for tourism cooperation. Eco-tourism has gained increasing prominence in recent years in that it is conducive to sustainable economic and social development and harmonious coexistence between man and nature. Both sides could step up cooperation in this area. Tourism agencies and enterprises of both sides may make full use of the internet to better promote the abundant tourism resources. At the same time, relevant resources should be pooled together and information should be shared to ensure that a thriving tourism industry will also lead to the development of other sectors.
Third, advance connectivity, both "hardware" and "software" connectivity. It means we need to both improve transportation networks and tourism facilities by taking advantage of the ASEAN connectivity plan and the Belt and Road Initiative and at the same time introduce more visa facilitation measures.
Fourth, improve tourism services. Tourism agencies and enterprises of both sides need to continue to improve tourism services for the sustained, healthy development of the tourism markets. Both sides should continue to work with each other to strengthen market supervision and safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of tourists.To promote sound and in-depth development of ASEAN-China tourism cooperation calls for concerted efforts of the whole society. ACC will seize the good opportunity brought by the Year of Tourism Cooperation to strengthen its communication and contact with governments and tourism agencies of ASEAN and China, actively support and engage in relevant activities and play its role as a unique platform to make even greater contribution to ASEAN-China relations.