It took about a decade for all ASEAN members - countries in the Association of South East Asian Nations, comprising Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam - to acknowledge the fact that average travellers have little clue about the significance of ASEAN. Even within the ten member countries themselves...

ASEAN countries have therefore decided to drop their ‘Visit ASEAN Year’ campaign, replacing it with a more understandable ‘Visit South East Asia Year’. At the same time, the regional association of travel agencies, ASEANTA, will develop a new version of its airline and hotel pass. With many airlines refusing to promote the special offer, the ASEAN Pass never really took off. Its new version could now include secondary and
budget carriers with a possible public launch by the end of the spring. Rebranding the region comes at a good time as it is in line with Southeast Asia’s expected shift in tourist arrivals in 2009. ASEAN + 3 (China, Japan and South Korea) attracted some 93 million international arrivals, up 7.5%, in 2008. Of these, the ASEAN Secretariat estimates that between 45% and 50% were intra-ASEAN arrivals. Most campaigns will therefore target regional travellers as arrivals from long-haul markets are expected to decline. And, in particular, ASEAN will target youth tourists and the cruise sector.