The ASEAN Tourism Association (ASEANTA) will press for a border reopening scheme among the bloc’s10 member states at the 24th meeting of ASEAN tourism ministries on February 4.
Bangkok (VNA) – The ASEAN Tourism Association(ASEANTA) will press for a borderreopening scheme among the bloc’s10 member states at the 24th meeting of ASEAN tourism ministries on February 4.
The BangkokPost quoted ASEANTA President Mingkwan Metmowlee as saying that theassociation, which includes the private sector and national tourismorganisations (NTOs) of the 10 member states, will call for the resumption oftourism by the first or second quarter of this year as the industry is on thebrink of collapse and needs urgent action.
More than 70 percent of tourismjobs in the region will be lost if the borders remain closed, but once tourismpicks up, the region will face another crisis - a labourshortage, said Mingkwan.
ASEANTA suggested every countryprepare for border reopening by drafting a regional framework for cross-bordertravel, standard operational procedures for the whole tourism ecosystem, andguidelines on testing and vaccination within the first quarter.
The associationproposed that within the first half of the year, countries in Southeast Asiashould start by considering business travellers from within the region, as wellas China, Japan and the Republic of Korea, which are ASEAN's dialogue partners.
Mingkwan said the region can consider city-to-city travel agreements in theinitial stage. For leisure tourists, 10 countries should support the resumptionof all types of travel by October.
She added thatthe private sector in many countries, such as Vietnam, Singapore and Malaysia,agree with the digital health passport proposal as some of them have alreadyinvested in digital contact tracing mechanisms, such as MyTrace in Malaysia andTraceTogether in Singapore./.
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Illustrative image (Photo: AFP) 
