On 26 January 2018, the 17th Meeting of ASEAN Plus Three Tourism Ministers was held in Chiang Mai. Attended the event were tourism ministers, delegates from ASEAN Member States, China, Japan and Republic of Korea (RoK), Deputy Secretary-General of ASEAN Secretariat, Secretaries-General of ASEAN-Japan Centre (AJC) and ASEAN-Korea Centre (AKC). H.E. Mme. Yang Xiuping, Secretary-General of ASEAN-China Centre (ACC), attended the event upon the invitation.
The meeting was co-chaired by H.E. Mr. Weerasak Kowsurat, Minister of Tourism and Sports of Thailand, and H.E. Mr. Du Jiang, Vice Chairman of China National Tourism Administration (CNTA). Minister Weerasak briefed that the tourism industry of ASEAN is booming, and 10 ASEAN Member States have been working closely together to develop ASEAN as a single tourist destination with high quality. Thanks to the successful implementation of "Visit ASEAN@50", ASEAN welcomed 126 million international visitors in 2017. China, Japan and RoK had become the important tourist sources of ASEAN. He looked forward to further expanding cooperation through Meeting of ASEAN Plus Three Tourism Ministers and other mechanisms, and promoting tourism to play a greater role in creating employment, promoting infrastructure construction and people-to-people communication, and achieving sustainable development.
Vice Chairman Du Jiang said that with the opportunity of the ASEAN-China Year of Tourism Cooperation in 2017, China and ASEAN have jointly organized a series of colorful activities to achieve positive results. With the joint efforts of both sides, the number of bilateral visits between China and ASEAN came close to 50 million. The cooperation mechanism among ASEAN and China, Japan and RoK has become an important platform for promoting tourism cooperation in East Asia. China is willing to work hand in hand with all parties to transform the consensus of leaders into practical cooperation, and promote tourism cooperation and sustainable development, so as to better benefit the peoples of all countries.
H.E. Mr. Kazuo Yana, Parliamentary Vice-Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism of Japan, said that Japan is actively promoting the integration and development of tourism, culture, sports and other industries. ASEAN is rich in tourism resources and cultural diversity. He hoped that both sides will give full play to their own advantages to promote a larger exchange of visitors. Mr. Keum Gihyang, Director-General for Tourism Policy of Korea Tourism Organization, said that the year 2017 is the ASEAN-Korea Year of Cultural Exchange, and the exchanges between the two sides have expanded further. He hoped to take the opportunity of the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Gamesto continue to expand tourism cooperation with ASEAN and promote cultural exchanges.
Mr. Hirubalan, Deputy Secretary-General of ASEAN Secretariat, introduced the outcomes of the 20th Summit of ASEAN and China, Japanand Republic of Korea. He said the leaders fully acknowledged the achievements of “Visit ASEAN@50” programme, highly praised ACC, AJC and AKC for their efforts in promoting exchanges between ASEAN and China, Japan and Republic of Korea in various fields, and reached a series of important consensus on further deepening the tourism cooperation, promoting regional people-to-people interconnection.
The tourism ministers and delegates of Brunei, Cambodia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines and other ASEAN countries respectively introduced their tourism cooperation with China, Japan and Republic of Korea. They appreciated the three countries for their strong support for the development of ASEAN tourism industry, and made suggestions for further exploring potentials and expanding tourism cooperation.
The meeting discussed the reports of relevant meetings of ASEAN Plus Three NTOs, adopted the APT Tourism Cooperation Work Plan 2018-2020, and related documents of the meeting. Meanwhile, H.E. Mr. Ngvyen Ngoc Thien, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Viet Nam, announced that the 18th Meeting of ASEAN Plus Three Tourism Ministers will be held in January 2019 in Halong city.