Mega urges ASEAN ministers to beat terrorism, boost tourism
Agencies, Yogyakarta
President Megawati Soekarnoputri has urged Southeast Asian countries to forge closer cooperation to boost tourism in the region in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, while pledging support to combat terrorism to save the industry in the region.
"Countries in the region must seek a common strategy and a joint operational network," Megawati said in her opening speech to the annual Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Tourism Forum (ATF) in Yogyakarta on Friday.
ATF, which will run until Jan. 28, is the first major tourism event in the region since the September attacks. Tourism ministers from the 10 ASEAN countries, plus their counterparts from China, Japan and South Korea also participated in the forum for an inaugural meeting.
Megawati said that the ASEAN countries and the three East Asia countries needed to encourage and facilitate tourism in their respective countries to develop the network.
Regarding terrorism, she supported "the attempts of ASEAN countries to improve the security situation so that it is conducive to tourism".
Megawati's statement came as the September terrorist attacks, coupled with the world economic slump, have caused a major blow to the tourism world.
The image of ASEAN as a safe destination was also tarnished following the recent arrest of an alleged al-Qaeda-linked terrorist who had contacts in Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines.
For the countries of the region, tourism is a vital industry. It provides jobs for millions of the region's people and foreign exchange into their economies.
For instance, tourism is the second-largest foreign exchange earner for Indonesia and Malaysia.
Around 5.15 million foreign tourists visited Indonesia last year, with foreign exchange receipts at more than US$5 billion in 2000. It fell short of the target of 5.4 million arrivals.
Malaysia experienced a 24 percent increase, or 12.78 million, in its tourist arrivals last year compared with 2000. The country booked revenue for 2001 from tourism at around 20 billion ringgit ($5.3 billion).
Meanwhile, tourism ministers of ASEAN, China, Japan and South Korea said in a joint communique released on Friday after the inaugural meeting that they would cooperate in boosting the region's tourism sector.
The action programs will cover the following areas: facilitation of travel, including the abolition of travel barriers; tourism promotion between destinations in ASEAN and China, Japan and Korea; enhancement of private sector cooperation; a joint program for human resources development; investment promotion.
"...there is now an urgent need for increased tourism in view of the global economic downturn and the drop in global tourism in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 tragedy in the United States," the statement said.
Elsewhere, ASEAN tourism ministries, at the same forum, sent a strong message to potential visitors that the region was safe for traveling, despite the arrest of the alleged al-Qaeda-linked terrorist.
They gave an assurance that their governments would do the utmost to maintain security within the region.
"We will chase anybody who is involved in terrorism," Richard Gordon, Philippines Tourism Secretary, told Reuters.
His counterpart, Indonesian Culture and Tourism Minister I Gede Ardika, stressed that the region had to take measures that "will provide more confidence that ASEAN is a safe destination".
Apart from the ministerial meeting, ATF 2002 is holding a travel exchange, attended by 380 buyers from 47 countries and 806 sellers from 10 ASEAN countries.
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