Asean tourism organisations to focus on attracting investments

CHIANGMAI: Asean National Tourism Organisations (NTOs) have agreed on concrete initiatives to further expand tourism facilities and infrastructure by focusing on attracting investments to the regional grouping.
Tourism and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz said the agreement reached by the NTOs during the meeting two days ago was definitely the right direction for Asean as it headed to the future.
"With the Asean family now consisting of over 600 million people, we need to enhance our collaboration to achieve economic stability," he said in his intervention at the 21st Asean Tourism Ministers meeting here today.
In line with this collaboration, he said, Malaysia would co-organise the first Asean Plus Three Tourism Investment Seminar in cooperation with the Asean Korea Centre in Seoul this year.
The meeting, which was attended by all the Asean tourism ministers, was chaired by Thailand's Tourism Minister Weerasak Kowsurat.
Mohamed Nazri said Malaysia also fully supported the initiative of "Accessible Tourism for All" which was discussed during the Asean NTOs meeting.
The country would work effectively with the regional grouping in bringing better accessibility for the disabled, senior citizens and children to enjoy its tourism offerings, said the minister.
During his intervention at the meeting, Mohamed Nazri also announced that Malaysia would implement Visit Malaysia Year in 2020 with the tagline, "Travel. Enjoy. Respect".
The tagline, he said, was in line with that used by the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) in promoting sustainable tourism development across the world. — Bernama