The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has launched a new social media campaign on World Tourism Day, September 27, which focuses on promoting intra-ASEAN travel as a key Covid-19 recovery initiative to revitalise the tourism industry.
This campaign, hosted on Meta, Instagram, X (formerly Twitter), and TikTok, is part of an initiative supported by Global Affairs Canada under the Canadian Trade and Investment Facility for Development. It was developed by the UK-based creative agency MDSG in collaboration with the ASEAN Secretariat.
Its theme, Your Dream Holiday, Closer Than You Think, highlights the region’s unique features, including its warm and welcoming people, ecotourism and adventure opportunities, and the diverse and flavourful cuisine found throughout the region.
Targeted primarily at South-east Asian travellers, the campaign aims to encourage residents and travellers within the region to explore the cultural, natural, and historical wonders right in their own backyard. Kanchana Wanichkorn, director of sectoral development at the ASEAN Secretariat, shared this objective during a recent multi-stakeholder webinar on the Intra-ASEAN Tourism Recovery campaign, jointly organised by Global Affairs Canada, MDSG, and ASEAN Secretariat.
The campaign spans six weeks and employs a combination of Stories and Newsfeed placements to specifically reach travel enthusiasts residing in South-east Asian countries while generating engagement and driving consumer interest to the website.
James Bailey, managing director, MDSG, revealed that the campaign targets individuals aged 18 to 55 residing in South-east Asia who have an interest in travel, culture, sports, nature, and ecotourism. He also mentioned that MDSG would share data collected from the campaign, including information about the most engaged users and the most popular themes. This data will enable retargeting for future campaigns and promotions.
Hannah Pearson, founder of Pear Anderson, emphasised the significance of the campaign, noting that before Covid-19, intra-ASEAN travel represented a third of all travellers originating from the region. She stressed the importance of maintaining momentum and energy in the tourism sector.
She opined: “Many tourists (from South-east Asia) have already explored the capital cities and are now looking for secondary and tertiary destinations, which can also benefit the local communities in those areas.”
Thus, this campaign provides an opportunity for governments in the region to promote less-explored destinations and further diversify their tourism offerings.
A Swedish national, he is also fluent in Danish, Norwegian, English and Thai.
Japan is seeing the opening of more big-name and glitzy attractions, as companies seek to gain from the country’s tourism recovery.
Warner Bros. Studio Tour Tokyo: The Making of Harry Potter, which opened in June, is the second theme park based on the hit film series after the one in London, which has welcomed 17 million visitors since opening in 2012.
Covering 30,000m2, the Tokyo site is also the world’s largest Harry Potter attraction. Operated by Warner Bros. Studio Japan, it features exclusive sets from the film series, interactive experiences including using a green screen, F&B options and shops, with entry for adults priced at 6,300 yen (US$42).
Attractions based on Japanese characters are also expanding, due to their popularity at home and abroad.
Building on its 60 billion yen (US$403 million) investment to open Super Nintendo World in 2021, Universal Studios Japan, in July, launched attractions based on several animation series including One Piece, Detective Conan and Attack on Titan.
Ghibli Park, which opened in Nagoya Prefecture in 2022, has also expanded this year to add two new areas: Mononoke Village, which unveils Japan as it was in the fifteenth century, and Irontown Village, featuring giant sculptures of creatures from Studio Ghibli films.
Growth in theme park attendance is important to tourism recovery as Japan seeks increased consumption by visitors.
Theme parks and amusement parks across the country are welcoming fewer visitors than pre-pandemic, with recovery at just under 80 per cent, but those visitors are spending more. Consumption per person exceeded 10,000 yen for the first time in 2022, according to data from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.
There are more products in the pipeline.
Tom’s City Circuit Tokyo Bay will open at the capital’s Odaiba waterfront in November, offering indoor and outdoor electric vehicle go-karting, as well as VR-based entertainment.
The company said the attraction can “help revitalise Tokyo’s night-time economy” as electric vehicles are quiet, allowing smooth operations at night.