ASEAN Tourism Association (ASEANTA) has presented its proposal to ASEAN NTOs to offer its support in organising TRAVEX from 2022 onwards on the grounds of combating current weaknesses in the system and improving the quality of the B2B component in the coming years.
ASEANTA president, Mingkwan Metmowlee, told TTG Asia that the proposal has been accepted in principle by the NTOs.
Another presentation will be made to ASEAN tourism ministers on Wednesday to get their approval, before a legal framework between ASEANTA and ASEAN NTOs can be drawn up in 1H2020. With these completed, ASEANTA will then be able to start preparing for TRAVEX 2022 in Indonesia.
Mingkwan sees this move as a natural progression for ASEANTA, as the organisation “has grown to become a tourism association of influence within the South-east Asian tourism landscape, playing an integral role in shaping tourism development growth and policies in the region”.
She added: “In the current set-up, where the host and organising committee changes with each ATF event, there is no central registry data of ATF buyers and sellers. As a result, there is no continuity in identifying good buyers and sellers.
“At times, we get bad buyers who do not perform and as a result, the quality of TRAVEX goes down. Also, some TRAVEX shows are more successful than others, due to the unequal level of development of tourism in ASEAN member countries.”
By having ASEANTA take the lead in TRAVEX organisation, Mingkwan believes that “a higher standard of TRAVEX” will be set, which will in turn “benefit the promotions of ASEAN destinations as a whole”.
Mingkwan explained that the plan is for the local members of the Federation of ASEAN Travel Associations (FATA) to take on event organisation duties when TRAVEX rotates, by alphabetical order, to their country.
FATA is one of the membership components of ASEANTA, with the others being the ASEAN Hotel & Restaurant Association, the National Tourism Organisations, and the ASEAN Airline Association.
