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."