I

ndonesia formally introduced ASEAN as a single tourist destination during the region’s tourism forum in Manado, North Sulawesi, on Wednesday.

Tourism and Creative Economy Minister Mari Elka Pangestu said that campaign was launched in Indonesia and would be fully implemented after problems involving issuing a common visas to non-ASEAN residents and issuing free visas to ASEAN residents were settled.

Mari said that the governments of ASEAN’s 10 member nations were currently finalizing the introduction of the visas.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

“We are still waiting for approval from Cambodia and Myanmar,” Mari said.

Mari said the heads of the governments of Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ member nations had, in principle, agreed to the introduction of common visas for non-ASEAN visitors and free visas for the residents of ASEAN member nations.

The 31st ASEAN Tourism Forum in Manado, North Sulawesi, which will take place from Jan. 8 to 15, comprises the 35th ASEAN National Tourism Organization Meeting, Ministerial Meeting and Travel
Exchange.

About 1,400 government officials and tourism executives were expected to participate in the forum.

China, India, Russia, Japan and South Korea also joined the forum, which was held with the theme “Tourism for a Global Community of Nations”.

Mari also said that ASEAN targeted to boost the number of Indian tourists visiting the region.

“The number of Indian tourists coming to the region has been increasing from year to year. The growth has been improving,” Mari said on the sidelines of the forum.

“Indian tourist arrivals to the ASEAN region stood at 14 million last year. The trend has shown improvement,” she added.

To lure more tourists from India to the region, Mari said ASEAN would open a representative office in Mumbai to promote the region’s tourist offerings to Indian residents.

ASEAN tourism ministers are expected to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on tourism cooperation with India’s tourism minister on Thursday.

Indian Tourism Minister Subodh Kant Sahai said that he hoped the memorandum would boost the number of tourists bound for India from the ASEAN region.

“We have heritage, historical and religious tourism — everything is there. ASEAN countries share cultural roots with India, somehow. [This] is a great thing,” Sahai said.

Mari said that she hoped the memorandum would boost the number of tourists from India to Indonesia.

“The number of Indian tourists coming to the region is still low compared to that of ... countries like China or South Korea,” she said, citing a lack of flights connecting the countries as one of the reasons for the low number of Indian tourists coming to Indonesia.

“I hope [national flag carrier] Garuda Indonesia will open routes to India,” Mari said.

According to the Central Statistics Agency, the number of Indian tourists coming to Indonesia reached 149,432 in 2011, up from 137,027 in 2010. (swd)