REPORT–BRUNEI–ATF 2010: The Ninth Meeting of the Tourism Ministers of ASEAN, China, Japan and the Republic of Korea (ROK) was held on 25 January 2010 in conjunction with the ASEAN Tourism Forum 2010 and the Thirteenth Meeting of ASEAN Tourism Ministers. The Meeting was preceded by the ASEAN, China, Japan and ROK NTOs held on 23 January 2010. The Meeting was chaired by H.E. Pehin Dato Yahya, Minister of Industry and Primary Resources of Brunei Darussalam and co-chaired by H.E. Dr. Thong Khon, Minister of Tourism of Cambodia.

The Ministers noted that tourism performance in the ASEAN, China, Japan and ROK region has been recovering from the impact of the global economic crisis. The initial figures of international visitor arrivals from China, Japan and ROK indicated that these countries continued to be the important source market for ASEAN Member States, with more than 15 million arrivals or 23.3 per cent of total international tourist arrivals in ASEAN.

The Ministers were pleased with the progress of APT joint activities that have contributed to the progress of the Cooperation Work Plan (2007-2017), namely ASEAN Plus Three Youth Summit organised by Indonesia on 16-19 June 2009 in Bali, and the completion of the initiative on the promotion of the well being of  tourist conducted by the APT Emerging Infectious Diseases (EID) Programme Phase II to promote health and safety of travellers and host communities in the ASEAN Plus Three Countries.

The Ministers appreciated China for the holding of the “China-ASEAN Tourism Cooperation Forum” on 19-20 November 2009 in Kunming to discuss possible ways to further strengthen inter-government cooperation to facilitate seamless travel, promote tourism investment opportunities, joint tourism marketing and promotion, and enhance human resource development. The Meeting also thanked China for provision of complimentary booths to ASEAN Member States and the ASEAN Secretariat at China International Travel Mart (CITM) 2009 which were utilized to support the establishment of ASEAN Common Area and promotion of ASEAN Cruise Tourism.

The Ministers welcomed the efforts of Japan in implementing various ASEAN-Japan tourism projects/activities in 2009, including organising a training programme for tourism industries, the convening of “ASEAN Tourism Fair” inviting artists/artisans and dance/music performers from ASEAN held on 26-31 August 2009 in Niigata City, the ASEAN Tourism Seminar and Tourism Night on 31 August 2009 at Hotel Okura, Niigata City, and Public Relations.

The Ministers expressed their appreciation to Japan for their continued support in ASEAN’s cruise tourism development. The Ministers look forward to Japan’s support to the proposed ASEAN cruise Infrastructure Development Study which will provide a baseline study of ASEAN’s available cruise infrastructure. The study will also propose new itineraries and the necessary infrastructure upgrading that will ensure the region is able to fully capture the benefits of cruise tourism.

The Ministers were pleased to note the activities carried out by ROK in further progressing tourism cooperation with ASEAN, such as enhancing regional cooperation through marketing partnership and promotion of multi-destination itineraries, publishing ASEAN pamphlets in Korean language in order to increase tourist flow between ASEAN and Korea, and ASEAN Tourism HRD Program. The Ministers thanked ROK for its active contribution in enhancing ASEAN-ROK tourism cooperation.