Southeast Asia sets agenda as international marine hub
Southeast Asia sets agenda as international marine hub
By Anil Penna
SINGAPORE (AFP): Southeast Asia, known for its crystal clear seas and white beaches, is setting its sights on to becoming a world-class marine leisure playground to rival the Caribbean and the Mediterranean.
As seaside holiday spots in the region multiply, the tourism industry has even come up with a name for the would-be idyll -- ASEANAREAN -- derived from the acronym for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
"It rhymes with and will rival the Mediterranean and the Caribbean as the most successful, exotic and exciting region of the world," said Franscis Lee, president of Singapore's Raffles Marina Ltd., which runs the region's top marina here.
The name was floated at Boat Asia '97, the region's largest boat show held here last week which attracted more than 450 companies in the pleasure boat, marina, commercial craft, water sports and tackle industries.
"The name aims to give a new complexion and impetus to this region..." Lee told AFP, saying it would lend a collective identity to Southeast Asia as a tourist destination.
"By giving it a name, it is like giving the region a corporate identity -- it is something that everybody can identify with and use to give greater efforts and enthusiasm to the promotion of this region," Lee said.
The industry has the support of policymakers in tourism- conscious ASEAN, which groups Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
"This vision is commendable and deserves our strongest support," Singapore Communications Minister Mah Bow Tan said, citing Southeast Asia's "ideal weather and bountiful seas" for marine leisure tourism.
Government authorities in the region are also working together to promote the marine leisure industry, Mah said, adding that the idea had been discussed at a recent meeting of tourism officials from Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore.
Fastest growing
Southeast Asia is the fastest growing and most lucrative market in the world for the marine leisure industry, according to experts attending Boat Asia.
An array of marinas are coming up across the region to capitalize on the growing affluence of their populations as well as on their increasing leisure time, tourism industry officials said.
"You are paying for the car, the clothes, the food... What's left? The leisure dollar," said Robert Hall, director of the British marine industries federation.
"If people have more leisure time, they will want to have something to do, " Hall said.
Malaysia intends to build one major marina in each of its 13 states, while 20 "pocket marinas" are taking shape in the Philippines offering facilities for pleasure boating, sailing, wind surfing, snorkeling, jet skiing and fishing.
"Economic growth and higher disposable incomes have led to the pursuit of upmarket leisure activities such as boating," said Malaysian marine industry official Oh Kean Shen.
Eight new marinas and yacht clubs are coming up in Singapore, where berthing capacity for pleasure boats will almost double in the near future, officials said.
The growing infrastructure adds to the natural allure of the region which boasts thousands of islands -- 17,000 in Indonesia alone -- and the world's highest marine biodiversity, officials said.
"ASENAREAN" seas are home to 2,500 species of marine fish and 400 species of hard corals. The Caribbean has 600 species of marine fish and 100 species of hard corals and the Mediterranean even fewer.
The region accounts for two percent of the earth's water surface, twice that of the rivals it wants to best, and an array of exotic resorts, rustic fishing villages and waterways in the confluence of warm equatorial waters.
"The area has a lot to commend it," Hall said. "Whether in fact it (ASEANAREAN) will ever become more than just a name I don't know. The Caribbean is pretty well known, the Med has been there for a thousand years."