Asean Urged To Harmonise Visas To Boost Tourism

[george]

ASEAN urged to cut travel costs, harmonise visas to boost tourism

VIENTIANE: -- Southeast Asian nations must lower the cost of air travel and establish a one-visa policy if they want to spur intra-regional travel and bolster tourism, officials say.

The 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has identified tourism as one of 11 priority sectors to be liberalised under a plan to create a European Union-style single market by 2020.

Tourism officials say ASEAN's diversified cultural sites, culinary spread and low prices are a treasure chest but efforts to cut travel barriers and promote the region as a single destination are slacking.

The region's pioneer budget carrier AirAsia urges ASEAN to adopt a "discriminatory" policy of lowering airport charges for flights within the region to make it more affordable to travel.

A lack of land linkages in ASEAN has turned air travel into a key transport mode connecting gleaming cities in Singapore, Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur to mountainous far-flung nations such as Laos.

AirAsia chief executive Tony Fernandes said an independent market survey showed only six percent of Malaysians and around one percent of Thais and Indonesians travelled by air before the emergence of low-cost carriers.

ASEAN must cut airport taxes, and other fees for airlines such as route charges, landing and parking fees, he said.

Premium airlines for instance charge about 1,200 ringgit (316 dollars) for a return ticket from Kuala Lumpur to Bangkok, which is not much different to the cost of flying to London, he said.

"ASEAN has got to be proactive to bring down air travel costs so that people will start looking at ASEAN as a destination," Fernandes told AFP on the sidelines of an ASEAN business conference here at the weekend.

Indonesia has experienced a surge in tourism since it deregulated air travel, he noted.

"I think open skies will eventually come but right now, ASEAN should look at being positively discriminatory in terms of taxes and other charges in the region so that airlines can lower their cost and airfares."

The ASEAN Tourism Association deputy president Elly Hutabarat said the region had become a "hotspot" for Middle East and regional travellers, partly due to growing restrictions on entry into the United States and Europe.

Tourist arrivals in ASEAN are expected to surge to 56 million in 2006, up from nearly 50 million expected this year, she said in a paper presented at the conference.

But she cited the region's perceived image as anti-Western, a lack of promotion as a single destination, the absence of a harmonised visa procedure and security threats as weaknesses it must overcome.

"The 10 ASEAN countries should be ready to open themselves and be at centre stage of world tourism... we have to be ready to tap travellers visiting China, Hong Kong, India and the Middle East," she said.

"Although it's going to be a giant step to take, a one-visa policy is one thing we need to strongly consider to minimise obstacles for tourists and potential investors coming to this region."

Tourism is a major revenue-earner for ASEAN countries, generating 27.7 billion dollars in tourism receipts in 2002, excluding Brunei, or 4.8 percent of ASEAN's gross domestic product.

Fernandes urged ASEAN governments to support the growth of low-cost carriers in the region.

"Please support us in having lower cost facilities so we can do more routes, points that are not covered by premium airlines. We don't need aerobridges, we need simple airports," he said.

New budget carriers Valuair and Tiger Airways have started operations in Singapore, which has proposed to build a low-cost terminal.

Malaysia is still considering plans to create a low-cost hub either at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport or the old Subang terminal favored by AirAsia.

Set up in December 2001, AirAsia now services destinations in Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia and Macau. It plans to fly to China by February from its Bangkok hub and buy 80 new aircraft over the next few years.

- AFP 2004-11-28

[malcolm owen]

Super! Points to remember: (1) ''the absence of a harmonised visa procedure ''

(2) "Although it's going to be a giant step to take, a one-visa policy is one thing we need to strongly consider to minimise obstacles for tourists and potential investors coming to this region."

Oh happy days, can such be true? Await excitedly, although the elite card was a flop! never the less..

[ovenman]

Sorry, I can't realistically picture all of the countries that would have to get on the same page regarding a unified visa ever doing so. This idea has been talked about before, it's being talked about now, it'll be dragged out again at some future point and nothing will ever happen.

The bit about airfares is somewhat deceptive. Sure, premium airlines may charge a small fortune for a return ticket on the KUL-BKK route but is this any different from what the premium carriers would charge between two European capitals?