As the East Asia Inter-Regional Tourism Federation (EATOF) marks 25 years in 2025, Hyeon Jun-Tae, secretary general of the Permanent Secretariat, who is also Gangwon State Tourism Bureau director general, shares what the grouping has achieved and what lies ahead
EATOF was launched in 2000 with the nine member local governments of Gangwon State (formerly Gangwon Province, South Korea), Tottori Prefecture (Japan), Jilin Province (China), Tuv Province (Mongolia), Cebu Province (the Philippines), Sarawak (Malaysia), Special Region of Yogyakarta (Indonesia), Primorsky Territory (Russia) and Chiang Mai Province (Thailand) to promote awareness of the importance of the tourism industry in regional development, the need for exchange and cooperation between regions, and to achieve common prosperity.
In 2009, Quang Ninh Province (Vietnam), Luang Prabang (Laos) and Siem Reap (Cambodia) became members.
What was the vision and mission of EATOF when it was established and what is the federation planning for the future?
The founding member local governments were seeking a new leap forward in co-existence and co-prosperity by promoting joint cooperation while respecting complementarity and diversity.
There has been exchange of tourism information and tourism human resources, joint promotion and marketing and the broadening of the scope of culture, arts and sports exchanges.
Prior to lockdown, EATOF functioned as a forum which focused on sharing tourism policies and benchmarking best practices.
The grouping was officially relaunched as a federation in 2022 at the EATOF General Assembly in Quang Ninh, Vietnam by transforming into an organisation focused on practical action.
In 2025, the meeting of the 23rd EATOF Standing Committee will be held in the Philippines’ Cebu, and efforts will be made to expand exchanges between EATOF member local governments and to jointly achieve sustainable tourism through global alliances with ASEAN, PATA and Green Destinations.
What are some highlights of cooperation and active exchanges between members, and what has been achieved?
In the area of cultural and sports exchange, traditional performances from each region were presented through the dispatch of an EATOF delegation and cultural performance troupe to the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympics, dubbed the Cultural Olympics.
Through the GOGO Gangwon global leaders exchange programme from 2019 to 2021, more than 1,000 EATOF youth were invited to Gangwon to build friendships while experiencing winter and cultural content.
In joint risk management, there was sharing of regional Coronavirus management policies through the EATOF online conference and status sharing of campaigns related to tourism recovery and more.
Best practice sharing is a continuous joint marketing effort through mutual invitations to events such as the Lao New Year Festival (Luang Prabang), Suroy Suroy Sugbo (Cebu), Gangneung Danoje Festival, Gangwon Forestry Expo and Son Heung-min Youth International Football Competition (Gangwon), and dispatch of cultural performance troupes.
Tour product development of inter-regional tour packages have been achieved through charter flights between Gangwon-Tuv and Gangwon-Manila, and ferry trips for Gangwon-Tottori.
EATOF recently signed an MoU and new partnership with PATA. How can EATOF and PATA benefit from each other?
By sharing tourism trend data between the two organisations, we can support strategies for the development of tourism in the Asia-Pacific region and promote global sustainable tourism through joint efforts.
EATOF tries to achieve its goals by utilising cohesion as a small and medium-sized regional initiative.
Who are the other EATOF partners?
Green Destinations is an official certification body of Global Sustainable Tourism Council which evaluates and certifies the achievement standards of sustainable tourism in government and the private sector, and promotes the expansion of public-private sustainable tourism practices in East Asia through joint certification with EATOF member local governments.
We are also trying to expand the scope of EATOF’s activities through various platforms such as the Korea-ASEAN Free Trade Agreement economic cooperation and transform it into an organisation that provides practical benefits.
As the lead and base of the EATOF Permanent Secretariat, what can you share about tourism development in Gangwon State that others can learn from?
In collaboration with telecommunication companies and the immigration office, the Gangwon Tourism Organization – along with the digital industry department of Gangwon State – publishes a monthly ICT Smart Travel report.
This report highlights traffic changes, points of interest, demographic data and traveller behaviour to help navigate strategic planning.
Additionally, the Gangwon Tourist Taxi service, which has been successfully operating for more than six years, publishes a monthly report through three City Halls and an appointed agency.
This initiative enables Gangwon to understand user demographics and set effective strategies for attracting future FIT tourists.