THE PROMOTION of ASEAN under the Southeast Asia: Feel the Warmth branding is finally set to hit the ground running, after being plagued by disagreements over the inclusion of the ‘ASEAN’ word and funding.

A four-year marketing plan has been outlined, with intra-ASEAN travel and arrivals from its dialogue partners being the focus this year, community-based tourism and nature in 2013, MICE in 2014, and long-stay senior travellers in 2015.

Tourism Authority of Thailand deputy governor Asia and South Pacific, Sansern Ngaorungsi, told the Daily that the working group is hammering out an action plan, and that programmes are expected to be up and running by the first quarter.

The annual budget is US$200,000, with US$160,000 going to marketing and promotions and the rest to product development and research.

At press time, the proposal drawn up by the ASEAN Marketing and Communication Working Group, led by Thailand, had yet to be endorsed by the ASEAN tourism ministers who were at their meetings. However, this is likely to be approved, given the adoption of the new logo at ATF and the fact that NTOs have already started submitting marketing highlights to be considered under this branding.

Speaking with the Daily, Jimenez said: “We are going to do things differently now. The Department of Tourism (DoT) is going to initiate more aggressive marketing communications and initiatives that will reinvigorate the tourism industry and shift attitudes.”

DoT’s first move was to unveil a new destination branding on January 6. Unlike its previous incarnations, the current campaign, It’s More Fun in the Philippines, focuses first on the domestic market before it is launched internationally.

In line with this premise, DoT has introduced a social media campaign showcasing the new branding and asking Filipinos to post what they think is fun about their country. A partner website, itsmorefuninthephilippines.com supports the campaign.

Jimenez hopes the new campaign will reposition DoT’s role. “Previously it was not seen as a source of inspiration, but as a source of funds. It should be perceived as the primary selling unit of a country, not just an administrative one,” he said.

Adopting a hands-on approach, DoT will evaluate packages sold by travel professionals to ensure that “they are reflective of the new branding and resonate with target markets”, which means weeding out packages that are “not fun”, such as overpriced, tired or inconvenient ones.

• Read more in the ATF Daily

Additional reporting by Marianne Carandang

VISITORS from ASEAN will stand to benefit from a host of new initiatives spearheaded by the India Development Corporation (ITDC), as it aims to bolster tourism infrastructure, attract more hotel investment, strengthen product development and train up human resources needed.

Revealing that plans would only be formally announced this month, ITDC chairman and managing director Dr Lalit K Panwar said the Indian NTO would set up a joint venture company called Ashok Infra, in collaboration with Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services.

Explaining that India’s tourism infrastructure was still underdeveloped in comparison to ASEAN countries, Panwar said the new company would be in charge of road expansions, beachfront facilities, places of interest and more. Funded by the Ministry of Tourism, state governments would also be active participants.

In another first, ITDC will enter into three-way equity ventures with state governments and hospitality companies to develop hotels. Having owned and ran its hotels independently with limited success, the NTO now wants states to identify suitable land sites and provide them at low prices to invite private investment.

Said Panwar: “We want professional hospitality companies to run these hotels profitably.”

• Read more in the ATF Daily

THIS YEAR’s ASEAN eTravel Mart, an annual event organised by the Bangkok-based Tourism Technology Association (TTA) with support from ASEANTA, is set to be bigger in scale and see more participation from both regional and overseas travel industry stakeholders.

The inaugural edition, held in Bangkok last March, attracted about 600 buyers from South-east Asia and Australia on the lookout for online distribution channels for their businesses, double the initial target of 300.

This year’s event, scheduled to be held in Bangkok sometime in August/September, will have a conference, exhibition and seminars/workshops spread over two days, up from a one-day exhibition/conference and half-day workshop previously.

In addition, TTA is seeking to grow the participant mix with tourism stakeholders from countries which have cooperative agreements with ASEAN, such as the US, the UK, Japan, South Korea, China, India and Russia.

• Read more in the ATF Daily

AIRASIA has taken several steps to enhance its image as an ASEAN airline, including joining ASEANTA last year as a chapter member and recently opening a dedicated ASEAN outreach office in Jakarta.

V Raman Narayanan, regional head, ASEAN affairs and government relations, AirAsia, explained that the AirAsia ASEAN office was a means to broaden the low-cost carrier’s branding as a ‘Truly ASEAN’ airline, and to extend its outreach to regional tourism stakeholders.

Scheduled to officially launch on February 22, the office’s location in the Indonesian capital is also expected to foster AirAsia’s relationship with the Jakarta-based ASEAN Secretariat, and help the carrier get across its ideas on developing regional aviation and tourism.

“We want to invest in the region as a whole instead of just one country,” he said. “AirAsia is already established as the dominant airline in ASEAN.”

• Read more in the ATF Daily