ASEANTA unveils new initiatives to promote ASEAN tourism

 

Tourism awards and a digital microsite were launched in Jakarta to promote collaboration among ASEAN member countries and expand travel opportunities across the region

The ASEAN Tourism Association (ASEANTA) has launched two initiatives to mark ASEANTA Day 2025 in Jakarta on August 8, 2025. 

The launch of the 39th ASEANTA Tourism Awards, themed Promoting Unity, Creativity & Excellence in Southeast Asian Tourism, and the Discover ASEAN microsite, a digital travel platform, aims to expand tourism opportunities in ASEAN member countries. 

Eddy Krismeidi, ASEANTA president, stated the initiatives reflected ASEANTA’s response to current tourism challenges and its readiness to capture future opportunities: “These initiatives reflect our determination to recover, innovate, and thrive.” 

He said the ASEANTA Tourism Awards, now in its 39th edition, have long served as a platform to recognise the best of ASEAN tourism, from community-based initiatives to large-scale innovations in marketing, sustainability and service excellence. Registration is open until October 31, 2025, and winners will be announced at the ASEAN Tourism Forum 2026 in the Philippines. 

The Discover ASEAN microsite is a digital travel booking platform developed by ASEANTA in collaboration with AirAsia. 

“This microsite curates essential and inspiring content, ranging from culinary experiences, culture, and interesting destinations to verified immigration links and the latest travel information,” he shared. 

The microsite was co-developed by Move in collaboration with the ASEAN Secretariat and is accessible via the Move app’s homepage. It features recommendations on food, culture and destinations across ASEAN member countries, alongside verified travel requirements, links to official immigration websites, and up-to-date health and safety guidelines. 

Yizhen Fung, head of strategic partnership at AirAsia Move, shared: “The Discover ASEAN (microsite) serves three objectives. The first is to involve by offering trusted, up-to-date travel requirements across ASEAN member countries, including links to the official websites of the immigration departments of each ASEAN member country. 

“The second is to inspire through curated recommendations showcasing gastronomic nature, cultural and wellness attractions of each Asian country. To this end, we are very grateful for the support of the ASEAN secretariat for letting us draw our content from the official tourism website of ASEAN.” 

As for the third objective, Fung said it was to include smaller towns and communities by connecting them to travellers alongside major cities and tourist spots, helping to boost their local economies. 

Indonesia’s deputy minister of tourism, Ni Luh Puspa, said: “The Indonesian Ministry of Tourism is proud to welcome ASEANTA’s initiative to launch the programme on ASEAN Day. 

“As one of the region’s leading tourism destinations, we fully support this joint initiative to strengthen ASEAN’s shared identity and unlock greater opportunities for collaboration. Let us inspire more travellers to explore what makes our region vibrant, diverse, and united.” 

Ni Luh also expressed the ministry’s interest in linking its official website, Indonesia.travel, to the microsite.

-TTG Asia.

ASEAN Travel Exchange 2025 to debut in Kota Kinabalu this June

 

The inaugural ASEAN Travel Exchange (ATEX) 2025 will take place at The Magellan Sutera Resort, Kota Kinabalu, from June 19 to 21, marking a significant milestone in regional tourism collaboration and recovery efforts.

The event is organised by leading South-east Asia’s tourism bodies, including the ASEAN Tourism Association (ASEANTA), Federation of ASEAN Travel Associations (FATA), and the Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents (MATTA). It is supported by the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Environment Sabah, Sabah Tourism Board, Sabah Convention Bureau, and strategic partners AirAsia Group and Jetama Water.

ATEX 2025 is expected to attract 354 delegates, comprising 229 semi-hosted buyers and 125 sellers. Buyers will attend from 17 countries, including China, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Oman, South Korea, Iran, Myanmar and Vietnam. They primarily represent tour operators, travel agents, hoteliers, and tourism product owners.

Sellers represent seven ASEAN member states – Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam – and cover sectors such as accommodation, transport, attractions, and destination management services.

FATA president Tan Kok Liang said: “This is a timely event that not only aligns with Visit Malaysia Year 2026 but also positions Sabah as a central player in ASEAN’s multi-destination travel ecosystem. ATEX supports ASEAN connectivity goals by facilitating increased visitor flows and regional cooperation. It also reinforces Sabah’s growing reputation as a premier business events destination, helping to enhance its international visibility and economic prospects.”

The official opening on June 19 will feature speeches by Sabah’s chief minister, Hajiji Noor, and the state’s minister of tourism, culture and environment, Christina Liew. The programme will include product presentations from Sabah Parks, Sabah Wildlife, Sabah Convention Bureau, Sabah Tourism Board, and AirAsia. The day will conclude with a welcome dinner at Shangri-La Tanjung Aru.

June 20 will be dedicated to B2B speed-dating sessions between buyers and sellers. On June 21, hosted buyers will take part in curated post-show tours designed to showcase Sabah’s cultural, natural, and island attractions.

Tan added: “The post-tours are designed to give buyers immersive experiences and a deeper understanding of Sabah’s tourism offerings. It’s not just about selling a destination, it’s about experiencing it.”

Looking ahead, Tan confirmed that there are plans for ATEX to become a recurring ASEAN tourism trade event, rotating among member countries. The continuation and future host of the event will depend on the outcomes of this first edition, with factors such as stakeholder feedback, participation, and regional interest playing a role in decisions going forward.

-TTG Asia.

ASEANTA lays out tourism restart plan

 

24th Meeting of the ASEAN Tourism Ministers

The ASEAN Tourism Association (ASEANTA) has called on South-east Asia leaders to take urgent action to reboot the travel and tourism industry in the region by Q2 this year, and save the tourism industry from collapsing under the weight of the pandemic.

During the recent 24th Meeting of the ASEAN Tourism Ministers, which took place virtually last week and was hosted by Cambodia, ASEANTA laid down a series of recommendations to the ministers, including continuing their respective governments’ support in a fair and equitable manner to ensure survival of the industry. This includes government guaranteed loan, tax reliefs, subsidies, incentives, and other relevant fiscal policies.

The association also called on the respective governments to prepare for the reopening of borders by laying down frameworks for cross-border travel, standard operating procedures (SOPs) for the whole tourism ecosystem, and guidelines on testing and vaccination by Q1 this year. That also covers the possible development of a common ASEAN health passport, with the potential integration of existing contact tracing or health declaration apps.

In addition, they urged the tourism ministers to facilitate the resumption of all types of travel – including business, leisure and VFR travel – by Q2 this year, in accordance with the ASEAN Travel Corridor Arrangement (TCA) framework.

The ASEAN TCA framework, which was issued last November by the South-east Asia leaders, aims to develop a common set of pre-departure and post-arrival health and safety measures, led by the Indonesian foreign affairs ministry. The development of ASEAN TCA would help restart cross-border travel by laying down a common set of requirements across countries.

Under the ASEAN TCA, ASEANTA proposed for business travel corridors to include the following safety measures: pre-departure and arrival testing, self-isolation for only one to two days until PCR test-on-arrival results are released, a controlled itinerary or allowance for business travellers to travel for leisure after as long as it’s sponsored by the company, and no quarantine for returning business travellers.

The association also floated the possibility of quarantine-free travel bubbles to allow leisure and VFR travel between low-risk countries, with no quarantine imposed on both incoming and returning travellers. The plan would entail the need for mutually recognised testing procedures, alongside common vaccine documentation for ease of verification.

Business travel alone will not be enough to restore intra-ASEAN traffic to healthy levels, ASEANTA said, noting that intra-ASEAN traffic is 35 per cent of the total international O&D passenger traffic in South-east Asia. It also pointed out that reciprocal green lane (RGL) arrangements have not generated significant volumes of air traffic, citing official data showing that Singapore received only around 835 inbound travellers from the South-east Asia region travelling under the RGL arrangements between June 8 to December 25 last year.

If reopening of borders is limited to essential business travel, passenger traffic between South-east Asian countries will likely remain at less than five per cent of normal levels for most of 2021, it added.

ASEANTA also emphasised the important role of the travel and tourism sector to South-east Asia’s economy. In 2019, the travel and tourism sector contributed US$380 billion or 12.1 per cent to South-east Asia’s GDP and created 42.3 million jobs or 13.3 per cent of total employment in the region.

-TTG Asia.

ASEANTA webinar: A New Normal and Creating Travel Bubble ( 25 June 2020 )

ASEANTA present “ASEANTA webinar: New Normal in Tourism and Creating Travel Bubble”

Date: 25 June 2020

Time: 15:00 - 17:45 PM (Bangkok time).

Register on: https://my.demio.com/ref/EJw1dsGps8D4dOLw 

or watch live on fanpage "Aseanta".

This webinar will be presented by all the influencers in Tourism around the world

1) Senator of Thailand

2) UNWTO

3) WTTC (World Travel Tourism Council)

4) WTA (World Tourism Alliance - China)

5) ECTAA (The European Travel Agents’ and Tour Operators’ Association)

6) Tourism Development and International Cooperation in Cambodia

7) ASEAN-Japan Centre

8) TCEB (Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau)

Focusing on the trend and evolution of Tourism in New normal after post Covid-19.

Keep the spot! on https://my.demio.com/ref/EJw1dsGps8D4dOLw or watch live on fanpage "Aseanta".

-ASEANTA.

ASEANTA Awards for Excellence nominations now open

The ASEAN Tourism Association (ASEANTA) is inviting travel and tourism industry members to submit their nominations for its annual awards.

There is no limit to the number of entries each person can submit and registration is not required.

Completed forms are to be emailed to Flora Abdullah at aseanta.ceo@gmail.com, and deadline for submissions is on December 15, 2018.

This year, ASEANTA added two new awards namely the Best ASEAN Hotel Package and the Best ASEAN Cruise Program, bringing the number of awards up to eight.

-TTG Asia.

http://www.aseanta.org/index.php/component/content/article/8-news-and-updates/46-31st-aseanta-awards-for-excellence-entry-form

New ASEANTA committee begins term

ASEAN Tourism Association (ASEANTA) has announced its management committee for the 2017-2019 term, following elections at its recent AGM in Kuala Lumpur.

Devinder Ohri, president of National Association of Travel Agents Singapore, and Sam Cheah, president of Malaysian Association of Hotels, will continue serving as president and deputy president respectively.

Margaret Heng, executive director of Singapore Hotel Association, is ASEANTA’s new secretary general, replacing Datuk Hamzah Rahmat, president of Malaysia Association of Tour & Travel Agents.

Retained as treasurer for another term is Supawan Tanomkieatipume, president of Thai Hotels Association.

Newly elected committee members include Sabli Arsad, president of the Association of Travel Agents Brunei; Charlie Yu, consultant, Philippine Airlines; and Jackie Thet, president of Union of Myanmar Travel Association.

ASEANTA is currently focusing on VisitAsean@50 initiatives such as developing a website on ASEAN Tourism Honours List and the ASEAN Sky Caravan & ASEANTA Excellence Awards 2017 event, which will be held on August 8, 2017 (ASEAN Day) in Jakarta.

-TTG Asia.

ASEAN Tourism Forum 2014 @ Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia ( 16~23 January 2014 )

Objectives

ASEAN Tourism Forum (ATF) is a cooperative regional effort to promote the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) region as one tourist destination where Asian hospitality and cultural diversity are at its best. This annual event involves all tourism industry sectors of the 10-member nations of ASEAN: Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Each year, the hosting of ATF is rotated among the member countries. ATF 2014 marks the 33rd anniversary of this event since its inauguration in Malaysia in 1981.

ATF aims to:

⎯ Project ASEAN as an attractive, multi-faceted single destination

⎯ Create and increase awareness of ASEAN as a highly competitive regional tourist destination in the Asia Pacific

⎯ Attract more tourist to ASEAN member countries

⎯ Promote intra-ASEAN travel

⎯ Strengthen cooperation among the various sectors of the ASEAN tourism industry

As the annual convention of the ASEAN tourism industry, ATF promotes the exchange of ideas, review of industry developments and joint formulation of recommendations to further accelerate the growth of ASEAN tourism.

ATF TRAVEX

ATF also provides a platform for the selling and buying of regional individual tourism products of ASEAN member countries, through the 3-day TRAVEX event. The unique and specialized ATF TRAVEX makes it easy and convenient for suppliers of ASEAN tourism products and services and international buyers to conduct business and meet quality participants through the Seller-Meet-Buyer (SMB) and the Buyer-Meet-Seller (BMS) appointment scheduling sessions. Both parties can maximize their participation through flexible one-to-one pre-scheduled meetings to explore, negotiate and ink deals with each other.

-www.atf-malaysia.com

ASEANTA holds meeting in Wakayama, Japan

Japan's Wakayama Prefecture will play host to the second edition of the ASEAN Tourism Association (ASEANTA) Board Members Meeting from today until August 1.

ASEANTA president, Mohd Khalid, will lead the 30-strong delegation from the 10 ASEAN countries for the second ASEANTA meeting for the year, to be held in Shirahama City.

The agenda includes a table-top discussion and networking session with key representatives of more than 30 organisations from the local travel trade in Wakayama, a tour around the city for inspection and the annual fireworks festival.

The association meets four times a year, with the goal of looking at ways to form partnerships and work closely with industry, public sector and other private businesses within and outside of ASEAN, to promote the ASEAN region as a destination of choice for both business and leisure travel.

Said Mohd Khalid: “With the existence of the ASEAN-Japan partnership, ASEANTA has also set its sights on further developing and enhancing tourism-related services between ASEAN and Japan.

“There is tremendous potential, not only in marketing and promoting travel and tourism, but also (for) investments within ASEAN by investors from Japan. Certainly, there is a possibility of exploring joint opportunities in travel and tourism between ASEAN and Japan.”

-TTG Asia.