policy and practice for global tourism demographic...

Asia-Pacific Newsletter I 2012, Issue 26

UNWTO Workshop During Sri Lanka EXPO 2012UNWTO and Asia Pacific Ambassadors Discuss Global Tourism Issues

Destination Report : Thailand Welcomes You to the “Rose of the North”

Demographic Change and Tourism

Special Report :

Specially Funded by the Ministery of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Republic of KoreaWorld Tourism Organization

Capitán Haya 42, 28020 Madrid, SpainTel: (34) 91 567 81 00 / Fax: (34) 91 571 37 33 [email protected] / www.UNWTO.org

Handbook on Tourism Product Development

Tourism products are the basis for a destination’s tourism sector operation: unless the tourism product meets the

The Asia-Pacific region is considered the world’s religious core with the greatest number of pilgrims and

needs and expectations of tourists, the destination cannot realise its full potential. However, only few destinations focus their attention on the development and delivery of the various attractions and activities that make up the tourism product. The UNWTO/ETC Handbook on Tourism ProductDevelopment outlines the essential elements in the process of tourism product development planning and implementation, e.g. coordination, consultation, collaboration – co-opetition. It illustrates these principles through a range of successful approaches and case studies from around the world and sets out best practice examples and benchmarks by which destinations can assess their own product development system and methods.Publication Year: 2011ISBN: 978-92-844-1395-9

Policy and Practice for Global Tourism

Policy and Practice for Global Tourism is a guide to the major themes in world tourism today. Through 11

chapters, it presents an overview of topics ranging from sustainable tourism to social networks or emerging markets to creating a successful destination brand. Examples of UNWTO’s work in key areas are highlighted throughout the publication, andthese are complimented by case studies and opinions from business leaders, destinations management organizations, academics and NGOs.Policy and Practice for Global Tourism is aimed at decision makers working in the public and private sectors alike, as well as those who are simply interested in learning more about this fast-moving and dynamic sector of the global economy.Publication Year: 2011ISBN: 978-92-844-1379-9

Religious Tourism in Asia and the Pacific

travellers for religious events, for both international and domestic tourism. It is estimated that there are approximately six hundred million national and international religious and spiritual voyages in the world, of which 40% take place in Europe and over half in Asia. According to UNESCO, 60% of the world’s population practises a religion and these believers form

China continues to develop as a leading powerhouse in tourism, and it becomes ever more important to

Report on Urban Tourism Development in China

examine the various facets of tourism in China in order to understand the potential of this market, and the effect it will have on global tourism. This report analyses the statistics of Chinese inbound metropolitan tourism markets, as well as the outbound trends of metropolitan residents from 2000 to 2007. Twenty of China’s best tourism cities are analyzed. Originally released in Chinese by the Shanghai Institute of Tourism in 2009, this English edition provides special insight into China’s cities as source markets as well as destinations.Publication Year: 2011ISBN: 978-92-844-1397-3

the demographic base of religious tourism. This study has therefore clearly identified areas of interest that appeal to the religious aspects of travel and it is the responsibility of tourism administrators and travel professionals to glean this information and look at religious tourism as a resource in the same light as the sun, sea and sand holidays that are readily marketed by tourism professionals.Publication Year: 2011ISBN: 978-92-844-1380-5

UNWTO Asia Paci�c Newsletter | 2012, Issue26

Cover:Sanphet Prasat Palacein Muang Boran,Thailand's Ancient City

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UNWTO World Tourism Barometer

3rd Tourism Statistics Capacity – building Workshop and Regional Seminar on

Tourism Statistics Capacity – building

UNWTO and Asia Pacific Ambassadors Discuss Global Tourism Issues

UNWTO Workshop During Sri Lanka EXPO 2012

APTEC Activities 1: Special Symposium – Rome and Madrid

APTEC Activities 2: Progress of the Maritime Silk Road

Golden Book Initiative: Asia Pacific Leads World in Recognizing Importance of

Tourism to National Economies

Interview: Tourism Minister of Malaysia, Datuk Seri Dr Ng Yen Yen

Sustainable Tourism Development Success Stories: Joining Forces – Collaborative

Processes for Sustainable and Competitive Tourism

Domestic Tourism Study Across Asia and the Pacific

Special Report: Demographic Change and Tourism

Destination Report: Thailand Welcomes You to the “Rose of the North”

Focus on Tourism Policy: Tourism Promotion Through Social Media

Conferences and Meetings

Asia Pacific News Brief

Editor-in-ChiefChulwon Kim, Ph.D

Assistant EditorsHyeri Han | Jungho Suh | Miran Hwang | Jiweon Kim | Dongin Kim

Designing/Printing Co.Design ORUM

Senior EditorsDaekwan Kim, Ph.D | William Cannon Hunter, Ph.D | Heyryon Lee, Ph.D | Brett Bouchard

PublishersTaleb Rifai, Ph.D | Secretary-General of the UNWTOInwon Choue, Ph.D | President of Kyung Hee Univ.Republic of KoreaSpecially Funded by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Republic of Korea

p9

3rd Tourism Statistics Capacity-building Workshop and Regional Seminar on Tourism Statistics Capacity-building

p22

Interview:

Tourism Minister of Malaysia, Datuk Seri Dr Ng Yen Yen

p34

Destination Report :

Thailand Welcomes You to the “Rose of the North”

p25

Sustainable Tourism Development Success Stories:

Joining Forces – Collaborative Processes for Sustainable and Competitive Tourism

p14


p16


www.unwto.org

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Europe surpasses the half billion mark in 2011 ●Despite persistent economic uncertainty, European

tourist arrivals reached 503 million in 2011, account-ing for 28 million of the 41 million additional interna-tional arrivals recorded worldwide. Asia and the Pacific (+6%) was up 11 million arrivals in 2011, reaching a total of 216 million international tourists. The Ameri-cas (+4%) saw an increase of 6 million arrivals, reaching 156 million in total. Africa maintained international arrivals at 50 million, as the gain of two million arrivals for Sub-Saharan destinations (+7%) was offset by the losses in North Africa (-12%). The Middle East (-8%) lost an estimated 5 million international tourist arrivals, totaling 55 million.

International tourism on course to hit one billion in 2012●The UNWTO forecasts continued growth in interna-

tional tourism in 2012 although at a slower rate. Arriv-als are expected to increase by 3% to 4%, reaching the historic one billion mark by the end of the year. Emerg-ing economies will regain the lead with stronger growth in Asia and the Pacific and Africa (4% to 6%), followed by the Americas and Europe (2% to 4%). The Middle East (0% to +5%) is forecast to start to recover part of its losses from 2011.

UNWTOWorld TourismBarometer

●International tourist arrivals reached a total of 980 mil-lion in 2011, up from 939 million in 2010, in a year characterised by a stalled global economic recovery, major political changes in the Middle East and North Africa and natural disasters in Japan. By region, Europe (+6%) was the best performer, while by subregion, South America (+10%) topped the ranking. Contrary to previous years, growth was higher in advanced econ-omies (+5.0%) than in emerging ones (+3.8%), due largely to strong results in Europe, and setbacks in the Middle East and North Africa.

World: Inbound Tourism

Source: World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) ©

528561 586 603 625

674 673 693 682753

797842

898 917882

939980

400

500

600

700

800

900

1000

1995 1997 1999 2001 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011*

International Tourist Arrivals (million)

-6-4-202468

1012


6.24.6

2.73.7

7.9

-0.1

3.0

-1.6

10.3

5.9 5.66.6

2.1

-3.8

6.54.4

96/95

97/96

98/97

99/98

00/99

01/00

02/01

03/02

04/03

05/04

06/05

07/06

08/07

09/08

10/09

11*/10

Foreca

st 2012

Long-term average

International Tourist Arrivals, World (% change)

Advanced economies & emerging economies: Inbound Tourism


334 349 363 376 393 417 409 414 405 430 453 476 497 496 474 498 523

193 211 223 226 232 257 264 279 277323 345 365

400 421 407440 457

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

1995 2000 2005 2010*

Advanced economiesEmerging economies

International Tourist Arrivals (million)


-15

-10

-5

0

5

10

15

2008 2009 2010 2011*

International Tourist Arrivals, monthly evolutionWorld (% change)

Quick Review of Key TrendsInternational tourism – 2011 results ●International tourist arrivals grew by over 4% in 2011

to 980 million. A total of 150 countries around the world monitored by the UNWTO, and virtually all major destinations, have reported monthly or quarterly data on international tourist arrivals for 2011. Of these, 125 show positive figures (83%), of which 52 are in double digits (35%), while only 25 (17%) reported negative results. In total, 125 countries reported results through September, of which 94 at least to October, 62 to November and 17 for the full year.

World Inbound Tourism: International Tourist Arrivals, 2011*


Europe, 503 mn, 51%

Africa, 50 mn, 5%

Middle East, 55 mn, 6%

Americas, 156 mn, 16%Asia and the

Pacific, 216 mn, 22%

(million)


3

13

6 7

15

4.46.0 5.6

4.2

0.0

-8.0

6.5

-10

-5

0

5

10

15

20

World Europe Asia andthe Pacific

Americas Africa Middle East

10/09 11*/10

International Tourist Arrivals (% change)

International Tourist Arrivals (absolute change 2011, million)


28

11

6

0

-5-10

-5

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

Europe Asia and thePacific

Americas Africa Middle East

Advanced economies & Emerging economies (% change)


-20

-15

-10

-5

0

5

10

15

2008 2009 2010 2011*

Advanced economiesEmerging economies

International Tourist Arrivals, monthly evolution

4

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slower rate. The UNWTO forecasts an increase of arrivals of between 3% and 4%, reaching the historic one billion mark by the end of the year.

The growth in international tourist arrivals for the full year of 2011 has been in line with the projection made at the beginning of the year. For 2012, growth is expected to be in the range of +3% to +4%, slightly lower than in 2011, but sustaining the positive results of 2010 (+6%) and 2011 (+4%). After a 2011 unexpectedly driven by advanced economy destinations, emerging economy des-tination will regain the lead in 2012.

These prospects are confirmed by the UNWTO Con-fidence Index. The over 350 members of the UNWTO Panel of Experts from around the globe expect the tour-ism sector to perform positively in 2012, albeit rather less strongly than last year.

Growth in Asia and the Pacific (+4% to +6%) is expect-ed to remain solid, benefiting from strong intraregional demand and improved outbound flows from Japan. Af-ter a zero growth year for Africa, the improved prosper-ity in Sub-Saharan Africa accompanied by the ongoing recovery of inbound tourism to North Africa will resume growth in Africa (+4% to +6%) as a whole. In the Ameri-cas (+2% to +4%), growth is projected to be close to the world average, although the still weak US economy along with a more moderate growth in South America could weight on the final results. Following a remarkable year,

Evaluation by UNWTO’s Panel of Tourism Experts

The 350 members of the UNWTO Panel of Experts from around the world who contributed to this issue of the UNWTO World Tourism Barometer are, in general, satisfied with 2011’s tourism performance, evaluating the year with a score of 127 – well above the ‘neutral’ 100, even if quite below the very high rating (139) given to the outlook prospects at the beginning of the year. Their score for ‘prospects’ in 2012 is also well down, at 122, reflect-ing the uncertain economic outlook worldwide, as well as concerns over political stability in some key reasons.

Global averages mask fairly wide variations across the different world regions. In line with actual trends, the Americas and Europe were rated the best-performing regions in 2011, with the Middle East trailing in bot-tom place. In terms of prospects for 2012, Africa and the Americas are expected to outperform all other parts of the world in 2012, with Europe this year expected to be the weakest region.

Asia and the PacificEvaluation of 2011

The rating for Asia and the Pacific for 2011 was much lower than what was given 12 months prior for 2010: down from 161 to 119 – but still above the neutral 100. The catastrophes in Japan were undoubtedly a contribut-ing factor.

UNWTO Panel of Tourism Experts

abs. number (n=347)


4%

13%20%

52%

11%

0%

14%

33%

47%

6%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

[0] Much worse [50] Worse [100] Equal [150] Better [200] MuchbetterEvaluation 2010 Prospects 2011

UNWTO Panel of Tourism Experts: Asia and the Pacific

Better

Equal

Worse


155 158145

131 133

76

146 150

127117

167

136 141 140

86 95

161

119

25

50

75

100

125

150

175

2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

Prospects (before)Evaluation (after)

UNWTO Panel of Tourism Experts: Asia and the Pacific

Better

Equal

Worse


25

50

75

100

125

150

175

T1 T2'03

T3 T1 T2'04

T3 T1 T2'05

T3 T1 T2'06

T3 T1 T2'07

T3 T1 T2'08

T3 T1 T2'09

T3 T1 T2'10

T3 T1 T2'11

T3 T1 T2'12

T3

Prospects (before)

Evaluation (after)

Prospects for 2012The Panel of Experts expects continuing growth in ac-

tivity. However, the overall prospects rating for 2012 is substantially weaker than the one expressed 12 months previously for 2011, indicating a more moderate growth.

The most significant trend seen in the Panel of Experts’ response is that the 2012 prospects rating for the emerg-ing economies (137) is very much stronger than that for the advanced ones (110).

The prospect for Asia and the Pacific for 2012 (127) is stronger than the evaluation of 2011 (119), but still sub-stantially weaker than the 2011 prospects rating made a year ago (150).

UNWTO outlook for 2012Growth to continue, but at a slower rate

Following a year of healthy growth, moderate growth in international tourism is expected for 2012, although at a

Outlook for International Tourist Arrivals

2008 2009 2010 2011 2012*

noitcejorplaerfull year, change between

Source: World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) © (Data as collected by UNWTO January 2012)

World

Europe

Asia and the pacific

Americas

Africa

Middle East

2.1%

0.5%

1.2%

2.7%

3.4%

20.1%

-3.8%

-4.9%

-1.6%

-4.9%

3.2%

-4.6%

6.5%

2.9%

12.9

6.5%

6.7%

15.1%

4.4%

6.0%

5.6%

4.2%

0.0%

-7.9%

+3% and +4%

+2% and +4%

+4% and +6%

+2% and +4%

+4% and +6%

+0% and +5%

growth is expected to slow in Europe (+2% to +4%) as economic uncertainties persist and pent-up demand dis-sipates. Finally, the Middle East (0% to +5%) is forecast to start recovering part of its losses from 2011. However, the political situation has to settle down and a full recov-ery in tourism might be more difficult and slower than hoped for.

The UNWTO’s projection for 2012 points to a growth proximate to the 3.8% average annual rate forecast for the decade 2010-2020 in the UNWTO long term forecast Tourism Towards 2030. This outlook reflects the com-plicated conditions seen in major advanced economies. The stalled economic recovery and increased financial and fiscal challenges have brought growing uncertainty to the tourism market. The implementation of austerity meas-ures, particularly in Europe, puts pressure in household budgets and undermines consumer confidence, with im-plications for outbound tourism. In addition, persistent high unemployment remains a major concern. Finally, rising geopolitical tensions can increase the volatility of oil price.

Nevertheless, the current results reflect the strong resil-ience of tourism demand, creating much needed exports and jobs in many economies around the world. On the upside, major sports events such as the 2012 London Olympic Games, the EUFA European Football Cham-pionship in Poland and Ukraine, and the Africa Cup of Nations co-hosted by Gabon and Equatorial Guinea are expected to boost visitor numbers.

6

9

26

23rd Joint Meeting of the UNWTO Commission for South Asia and the UNWTO Commission for East Asia and the Pacific3rd Tourism Statistics Capacity-buildingWorkshop and Regional Seminar on Tourism Statistics Capacity-building

Series Series

International Tourist Arrivals by (sub)region and selected countries and territories of destination

(Data as collected by UNWTO August 2011)

Full year

2009 2010 2011*

Change Monthly/quarterly data (%change over same period of the previous year)

10/09 11*/10

(%)(1000)

2011* 2010*

YTD Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4

North-East Asia China

Hong Kong(China)

Japan

Korea, Republic of

Macao(China)

Mongolia

Taiwan(pr. of China)

South-East Asia Brunei Darussalam

Cambodia

Indonesia

Lao P.D.R.

Malaysia

Myanmar

Philippines

Singapore

Thailand

Timor-Leste

Vietnam

Oceania Australia

Cook is

Fiji

French Polynesia

Guam

Kiribati

Marshall Is

N.Mariana Is

New Caledonia

New Zealand

Niue

Palau

Papua New Guinea

Samoa

Solomon Is

Tonga

Tuvalu

Vanuatu

South Asia Bangladesh

Bhutan

India

Iran

Maldives

Nepal

Pakistan

Sri Lanka

Asia and the Paci�c

TF

TF

VF

VF

TF

TF

VF

TF

TF

TF

TF

TF

TF

TF

TF

TF

TF

VF

VF

TF

TF

TF

TF

TF

TF

TF

TF

VF

TF

TF

TF

TF

TF

TF

TF

TF

TF

TF

TF

TF

TF

TF

TF

TF

98,02450,875

16,926

6,790

7,818

10,402

411

4,395

62,102157

2,046

6,324

1,239

23,646

243

3,017

7,488

14,150

44

3,747

10,9165,584

101

542

160

1,053

4

5

345

99

2,458

5

84

124

129

18

51

2

101

10,103267

23

5,168

..

656

510

855

448

5.6

5.22.5

12.9

-24.9

18.6

17.5

9.9

6.7

21.2

16.0

25.1

14.9

9.1

22.7

-25.3

-0.5-9.0

-0.5

2.0

-5.0

-5.7

-15.1

2.7

26.3

43.4

3.7

-13.8

10.4

20.6

12.4

14.9

10.8

27.2

5.4

6.2

-12.7

16.4

4.6

0.0

29.1

1.0

7.1

6.7

18.8

23.3

6.6

5.12.7

14.8

-31.4

17.5

16.2

0.7

11.2

10.0

20.2

11.7

20.8

17.9

12.0

14.7

25.7

10.2

0.2-2.5

6.1

5.4

-2.9

-4.9

-16.5

25.4

8.9

28.4

5.3

0.0

8.1

47.7

7.2

18.9

18.5

30.0

12.9

13.89.4

18.7

26.8

12.5

14.7

10.8

26.7

12.5..

17.3

10.7

34.7

3.9

27.7

16.7

22.3

12.6

-9.4

34.8

6.15.4

3.0

16.5

-4.1

13.6

19.2

-14.4

8.4

-0.8

2.7

33.3

..

18.5

0.2

12.4

-10.3

4.9

-3.5

14.4..

14.7

11.8

..

20.7

18.2

6.9

46.1

181,146 204,567

111,57555,665

20,085

8,611

8,798

11,926

456

5,567

69,844..

2,399

7,003

1,670

24,577

311

3,520

9,161

15,936

40

5,050

11,5805,885

104

632

154

1,197

5

5

375

99

2,525

6

..

147

129

21

45

2

97

11,562..

27

5,776

..

792

603

914

64

215,973

115,534..

..

..

..

..

460

6,087

76,241..

..

..

..

..

..

..

..

19,098

.3.

6,014

11,612..

..

..

..

..

..

..

..

..

..

..

..

..

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..

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..

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12,586..

..

6,290

..

..

..

..

856

5.6

3.5..

..

..

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0.9

9.3

9.2..

..

..

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..

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..

19.8

..

19.1

0.3..

..

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..

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..

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..

..

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..

..

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8.9..

..

8.9

..

..

..

..

30.8

TF

TF

VF

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TF

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TF

VF

TF

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VF

TF

TF

TF

TF

VF

TF*

VF

TF

VF

TF

TF*

TF

TF

TF

TF

TF

TF

TF

TF

TF

TF

TF

VF(1)

TF

TF

5.6

3.53.2

11.1

-29.1

10.2

8.5

0.9

9.3

9.2

14.4

8.9

22.2

1.2

25.6

12.7

13.7

19.8

19.1

0.3-0.1

8.1

6.8

6.5

-5.5

39.6

2.6

-11.5

11.5

2.7

26.5

6.2

0.1

18.5

-17.4

-4.1

8.9

33.6

8.9

17.8

21.4

30.8

4.4

1.92.4

5.7

-13.3

2.8

-0.7

8.4

9.8

8.3

13.9

6.4

19.5

30.4

13.0

15.7

14.0

11.9

-0.5-0.3

5.5

4.3

18.5

1.9

36.3

10.2

-10.0

7.4

-2.4

11.9

0.3

-1.4

21.6

-17.4

-16.6

8.5

9.4

10.3

12.8

12.5

34.1

5.9

0.93.4

11.4

-50.3

5.3

6.7

8.4

0.0

14.6

12.9

6.4

26.5

27.1

11.0

14.1

53.3

25.4

0.52.2

12.9

12.9

17.1

-15.5

43.3

-2.7

-15.9

6.4

-1.1

47.3

13.7

-0.4

15.8

3.1

12.9

40.0

12.6

22.8

39.0

40.7

7.7

4.61.3

14.1

-31.9

17.2

15.2

14.6

14.5

21.2

5.9

6.6

10.9

18.2

35.4

43.6

3.63.4

5.7

6.8

1.9

0.5

29.6

-11.9

52.9

4.7

35.9

7.2

2.2

-0.1

3.5

87.8

-1.3

15.9

26.4

29.6

5.5

5.33.2

12.5

-15.3

13.3

10.0

9.2

5.4

13.5

10.3

25.5

11.3

10.8

7.0

12.9

3.40.9

1.4

1.0

-9.8

-4.2

-1.0

16.8

21.3

6.1

10.6

38.3

11.0

21.9

16.8

32.8

5.0

4.5

22.2

6.8

9.5

32.0

-1.0

5.3

5.2

20.4

15.2

15.9

21.112.9

31.6

42.3

21.4

29.4

50.6

30.5

10.1

15.8

13.5

59.2

3.9

24.8

13.1

25.7

-2.2

2.8

28.6

4.11.4

-1.0

22.1

-11.4

20.8

16.6

-0.8

10.7

-10.3

0.5

16.4

5.3

12.0

-4.0

3.0

-16.8

31.8

3.7

11.4

-17.9

8.3

19.5

7.1

10.4

45.9

8.6

7.95.7

10.8

8.8

12.1

3.3

-26.2

25.8

9.6

20.0

6.6

13.9

1.2

15.4

19.7

15.9

8.4

-25.3

36.3

4.84.2

5.1

11.5

2.0

10.1

24.0

-6.4

14.8

15.1

1.1

9.5

21.2

18.1

3.7

15.4

-8.3

-24.6

-1.2

13.1

30.5

11.1

17.5

15.9

0.0

50.8

14.3

15.610.9

22.9

29.8

18.6

13.0

-2.5

22.2

13.6

19.4

9.2

16.9

5.6

37.1

23.0

20.3

14.5

-25.3

37.8

8.69.4

8.2

11.6

1.0

15.0

32.8

-15.1

4.0

3.2

3.0

26.4

44.0

17.3

0.0

30.9

-9.3

9.8

-4.9

10.9

3.7

11.1

26.5

23.3

-19.3

37.2

13.6

11.48.2

12.7

29.3

-1.0

16.3

50.6

28.1

16.9

9.9

14.6

23.0

5.3

39.3

11.4

19.6

27.8

14.1

36.2

6.76.3

-3.4

25.4

-10.7

10.1

2.3

-5.1

2.2

-14.2

5.6

79.4

5.7

27.0

0.7

-1.5

-6.1

6.9

-4.0

21.5

56.2

15.6

20.5

29.8

47.3

50.3

5.6

8.96.6

13.1

-13.1

17.8

16.0

17.1

1.3

6.3

19.8

6.3

-17.9

42.9

1.20.6

15.7

7.7

6.2

1.7

5.8

4.7

15.1

20.3

25.8

Source: World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) ⓒ

See box at page ‘Annex-1’ for explanation of abbreviations signs used

(1)Aif arrivals only

Bangkok, Thailand, 5-9 March, 2012The Statistics Capacity-building Programme for Asia-

Pacific (SCBP) is organized jointly by the UNWTO with the Australian Department of Resources, Energy and Tourism, and the Ministry of Economy Develop-ment of New Zealand, and in cooperation with UNES-CAP, the Ministry of Tourism and Sports of Thailand, the National Statistical Office of Thailand and the De-partment of Tourism of Philippines.

The programmed 1st ever Workshop was held in Bangkok, Thailand, on 22-26 November 2010, the 2nd Workshop was held in Manila, Philippines, on 4-6 July 2011, and the 3rd Workshop (5-6 March 2012) and Re-

gional Seminar (8-9 March 2012) took place in Bang-kok, Thailand.

The objective of the SCBP is to assist and encourage countries in improving and expanding their Systems of Tourism Statistics (STS) for a better measurement, analysis, understanding and management of the tourism sector. “We’ve been very gratified to find the countries involved in this program have actually been very active implementing the new standards.” said Mr. Fleetwood, Consultant of UNWTO who coordinated and chaired this workshop and seminar. This is done through a con-sistent and transparent approach that builds the capacity of key country experts and reinforces inter-institutional

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cooperation on a national and international level. Coun-try experts are trained in the United Nations recom-mended methodology for measuring tourism and are also provided guidance on the practical aspects of its im-plementation. “The major one is the countries are getting closer and closer to using the same international stand-ards”, Mr. Fleetwood added while he was asked of what are the major improvements of the 3rd workshop and regional seminar.

The SCBP brings together selected UNWTO mem-ber countries participating in a series of three training Workshops that culminated in a Regional Seminar open to all countries in the entire region, where these coun-tries shared their learning curve and experiences. And this 3rd workshop provided enriched information and knowledge and shared fruitful discussions. Mr. Hiroyuki Kamiyama, Director of Tourism Statistics and Tourism Satellite Accounts, Japan Tourism Agency, said “It’s quite a good opportunity for us to know other countries prac-tices and what they do.”

Attendees showed their gratitude on the 3rd workshop of SCBP. “It provided excellent learning as well as an in-teractive opportunity for us to learn what other countries are facing and how we could use insights from discussion we had to better plan and manage our statistics in terms of quality”, Ms. Patricia Clare, Principle Tourism Offic-er-Research and Systems, Ministry of Tourism of Fiji said while she described the overview of the workshop.

Speaking of the outcome of this meeting, Mr. Fleet-wood also commented, “What I really want to see is how the member countries in the Asia and the Pacific region have been benefited from this workshop, and how they moved toward improving their measurement of tourism, as I see that they have made significant strides. So, I per-sonally feel very gratified now that they’re coming to the end of the program here to see sort of progress that they have made.”

ism, because this was seen as bringing revenue into the country. Many countries were not aware that domestic tourism can be a much bigger economic activity than inbound tourism. Member countries have since invested further effort into developing domestic tourism. Addi-tionally, member states are working more closely with national statistics agencies and national banks which pro-duce balances and payments of figures. Doing so helps to assert how much tourists bring into the country and how much we are taking out of the country as tourists going to another country.

3. Could you please tell me about the challenges to achieve the objectives for this workshop or this pro-gram?

There are two particular challenges. The first is obtain-ing the necessary resources because collecting accurate, organized and timely statistical data is very difficult and costs a lot of money. Surveys and interviews at airports and in households need to be conducted to determine travel figures. All of this is very expensive. International tourism agencies need to persuade those people in gov-ernment to provide financial support. Although past support was less evident, conditions are improving as both governments and non-tourism agencies are becom-ing more aware of the economic importance of tourism.

The second thing is having the skills to conduct statisti-cal surveys properly, or correctly. This requires a lot of data collection methods and statistical training and man-agement know-how. You have to know how to design a sample. For example, how do you know in what way to design a sample at the airport, because you can’t inter-view everybody, and how do you know the people you are sampling will be representative of the total numbers of travelers, etc.

1. Please tell us about the main purpose of this workshop. This workshop is part of a Program that the UNWTO has been running for past few years. In 2008, the UNWTO, through the United Nations, developed a framework of tourism statistics’ standards. And the pur-pose of this Statistics Capacity-Building Pro-

gram which this workshop part of, is to help countries to implement those standards. This is the 3rd Workshop in the Asia Pacific region. The first was held here in Bang-kok in Nov 2010. The 2nd one was held in the Philip-pines in July 2011. This is the 3rd and final Workshop in this series providing a platform to present progress that the 13 countries participating have made since the pro-gram’s inception.

2. What are the major improvements for this 3rd Workshop compared with the 2nd Workshop?

Very significant improvements have been achieved in that we have now established principles for international standards. Previously, each country decided on their own definitions, for example, “What is the tourist?” and “How do you define a tourist?” If you are measuring tourism statistically, you have to know what you’re measuring. When countries used different standards there was no compatibility between countries. And of course, tourism is such an international activity that it is very important for countries to compare with each other. So, the major improvement has been the huge movement of member countries to adopt the same standards and they’re work-ing very much towards compatibility of data.

I think the second most important activity is that in the past, many countries, particularly including countries in the Asia Pacific region, focused mostly on inbound tour-

Interview with Mr. Fleetwood, Consultant of UNWTO

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1. Please tell me about your impressions or feelings on this program.

Firstly, I appreciate the UNWTO for or-ganizing such a Workshop because we are very much advancing. We do have IT tech-nology through online systems. However, there’s nothing that will fully substitute for

face to face discussion. The meetings provided excellent learning as well as an interactive opportunity for us to be more informed as to what other countries are facing and how we could use insights from the discussions we had to better plan and manage the quality of our statistics.

1. Please tell me about your feelings or impressions on this program and semi-nar.

I think the seminar is very timely and im-portant for all of us. We realized that tourism is one of the biggest industries in terms of its profitability and also it plays critical role

1. Please give me your impressions on the program and seminar.

It is a good opportunity for us to know other countries practices and what they do. I am confident that we learned quite a lot about other countries’ tourism related issues, their marketing or promotion, and especially

their methodology. Therefore, it’s quite a good opportu-nity for us to attend this sort of meeting.

2. What do you think of the strength or competi-tiveness of tourism statistics for Japan over other countries?

I think that we conducted a number of high-quality surveys. And we have a systemic and stable system of sta-tistics. I think that’s our strength. What’s more, we do not just investigate the facts, but also we add some variables to the analysis data. And we provide such the analysis data to other stakeholders for example, the local govern-ment, private sectors or investors. Another point is that we have adopted attributes such as “willingness to revisit Japan” or something along the same lines, especially for the inbound survey. Additionally, we also adopted such attributes into our domestic survey for the next period.

3. Speaking of the future plan, do you have any new projects for tourism statistics or other activi-ties that your organization is currently doing?

During this workshop and seminar, we gave a presenta-tion regarding the “regional tourism economic survey”.

Interview with Ms. Patricia Clare, Principle Tourism Officer-Research and Systems, Ministry of Tourism of Fiji

Interview with Kinley Wangdi,Senior Tourism Officer,Tourism Council of Bhutan

2. What are the current issues in tourism statistics in Fiji?

As you know, all the statistics are collected and com-piled by the Fiji National Statistical Office. They are do-ing an awesome job. But, the fact is, if you had listened to the presentation, they mentioned challenges pertain-ing to timeliness. And they do conduct surveys but the respondent rate is quite low and not able to sort of get to the targeted market to respond to the questionnaire sent out. That’s the issue we are currently facing. But oth-erwise I guess with statistical committee and technical committee we are looking to secure better ways to over-come these issues.

3. Do you have future plans for improving tourism statistics in Fiji?

After returning from this seminar and workshop, con-cepts have become clearer. Now the questions of how to measure certain variables and the range of methods and tools that can be used have been explained and other spe-cial support has been provided. The Ministry of Tourism will incorporate what we’ve learned from this meeting to obtain better quality data sets.

in socio-economic issues such as eradicating poverty, and regenerating rural communities. From this point of view, managing tourism information and data is crucial to mak-ing right decisions and proper policies. Additionally, I’d say that the workshop and seminar have been enriching for us to share experiences among the member countries. There-fore, I think this type of seminar is necessary for both the bureau of statistics and tourism organizations from each country to take their tourism sector to the next level.

2. What are the current issues for tourism statistics in Bhutan?

Bhutan is basically a young player in this field because our government started to focus on tourism industry from the early 1970s. For this reason, we have only basic statistics. Since the quality of tourism statistics is not very refined yet, I think this is one of the key challenges for developing a better tourism industry in Bhutan. It is important for the future planning of tourism of Bhutan to look at how Bhu-tan can derive benefits from the tourism industry for the next five years based on statistical data.

3. Do you have future plans for improving tourism statistics in Bhutan?

I think we need to build up strong collaboration among stakeholders for the future. This is because a successful data collection for tourism statistics results from the coopera-tion among the stakeholders and relevant agencies in the tourism industry. As a matter of fact, from the government organizations to the private companies, the players started to form a consensus to enhance the quality of statistics be-cause they realized that it is an initial step in developing the tourism industry. We are looking forward to collaborating with UNWTO as well. This is because as we all know, UN-WTO provides a proper and up-to-date platform for its member countries. In conclusion, I’d like to say that Bhu-tan will concentrate on enhancing the quality of tourism statistics by making appropriate efforts both at the national and international level.

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Interview with Mr. Hiroyuki Kamiyama, Director of Tourism Statistics and Tourism Satellite Accounts,Japan Tourism Agency

This is our future plan for tourism survey and quite a large survey. We are going to focus on the supply side of the sur-vey such as accommodation, transportation, retailers, or food and beverage. It will cover about 1.6 million private entities which is quite a huge survey. And we have already conducted pilot surveys twice. We are going to start the fi-nal survey this July. The survey is conducted once every five years through the country’s economic census, so we match the data of the economic census and our regional tourism statistics. Therefore, we can use quite a lot of the data and analyze many aspects. The reason why we highly focus on the supply side is that it is easier to see how the tourism industry influences regional economies.

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between tourism and a country´s happiness index will be examined in conjunction with the Kingdom of Bhutan, as an alternative mechanism for measuring tourism´s contri-bution to host countries.

As the world gets ready to witness 1 billion tourists cross-ing international boarders for the first time in 2012, de-spite times of economic downturn across the world, it is more important than ever to approach the sector with a unified voice and a commitment to seeing tourism achieve its full potential.

around the world, and improve the competitiveness of the sector, UNWTO has engaged in various initiatives over the past 12 months. These include the Global Leaders for Tourism Campaign, capacity building projects in the Asia and the Pacific Region (such as the UNWTO/Tianjin Training Programme on Tourism Marketing, the Tourism Statistics Capacity Building Programme in Thailand and the Philippines and the Executive Training Program in Brunei) and a number of regional studies. During 2011, special assistance was also provided to Japan following the natural disaster in March.

In the immediate future, UNWTO´s Asia Pacific Pro-gramme plans to conduct studies on domestic tourism, green tourism and mega events. As well as this, the link

commenting on their importance in the context of their own countries.

Asia and the Pacific, currently the world´s second strong-est region in terms of international tourist receipts, re-ceived a record number of tourist arrivals in 2011 (216 million international tourists – a 6% increase on 2010 fig-ures). According to UNWTO projections, these numbers are expected to increase by a further 4-6% during 2012. Regionally, as well as globally, travel is a major industry which has the potential to generate millions of jobs, bring economic growth and diversification, and promote re-gional development. Additionally, travel can be a strong contributor to poverty reduction and development in poorer parts of the world.

In a quest to highlight all of these benefits of mainstream tourism in the political and economic agendas of countries

Ambassadors of Asia Pacific countries met with UN-WTO Secretary-General Dr. Taleb Rifai at UNWTO Headquarters in Madrid on 21 March for the Annual Ambassador´s Luncheon where main issues currently fac-ing the tourism industry were discussed.

The meeting, held since 2000, has become a tradition for UNWTO. This year, it was attended by Ambassadors to Spain from thirteen countries in the Asia Pacific Re-gion. The meeting was opened by Secretary-General Dr. Taleb Rifai, who outlined the three main focus areas for UNWTO in the immediate future: consumer protection, travel facilitation (visas) and airport departure taxes. These topics, among others, are key issues facing the tourism in-dustry today, both globally and in the Asia Pacific Region.

There was a general consensus about the importance of these issues among the visiting Ambassadors, with many


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nomic development. He further emphasized how Sri Lanka EXPO 2012 demonstrates the power and the importance of tourism as a means of uniting people and cultures, building bridges of peace, understanding and creating chances of cooperation. After outlining global tourism trends and positive projections for the industry’s future, Mr. Xu Jing concluded his speech saying, “The next 20 years will see continued growth for the tourism sector. They can also be years of leadership: tourism lead-ing economic growth, social progress and environmental sustainability by fostering competitive and responsible business models and practices and increasing coopera-tion between the public and private sectors.” Mr. Xu Jing also stressed the opportunity for Asia Pacific countries to work together and with the private sector to ensure that global policies designed to address current political and economic challenges are supportive of the sustainable growth of tourism.

Sri Lanka EXPO 2012 and its adjoining Trade, Invest-ment and Tourism Symposium were held in Colombo, Sri Lanka from 28-30 March. In this event, the main goal was to promote and re-position the trade, invest-ment and tourism capabilities of Sri Lanka in a time of national development and strong regional growth. The Sri Lanka EXPO 2012 and Symposium attracted over 1,300 foreign investors and buyers. It was organized by the Sri Lanka Export Development Board (EDB) in a bid to promote Sri Lanka to the international com-munity through a number of symposiums, key note ad-dresses, corporate events and networking sessions. Tour-ism development was highlighted as an area of particular focus during the Symposium, along with global trends in trade, investment opportunities and export qualities.

Mr. Xu Jing, director of UNWTO’s regional pro-gramme for Asia and the Pacific, complimented Sri Lanka on its development and emphasized the poten-tial of tourism to be a strong contributor to socio-eco-


Sri Lanka, finally a nation of peace after three decades of civil unrest, has seen considerable economic expan-sion during the past two years. Tourism now plays a vital role in the country´s socio-economic development, with a record 850,000 international tourist arrivals recorded in 2011 (an increase of 30% on the previous year). Due to this increase, tourism is now Sri Lanka´s fifth largest foreign exchange earner. In addition, employment gener-ated in the tourism sector (both directly and indirectly)

increased by 5.7% to 132,055 in 2010. The government of Sri Lanka has acknowledged that tourism is a mul-ti-sector industry that cannot be separated from other ma jor social and economic activities. This substantial growth provides great opportunities through effective policy making and planning for tourism’s contribution to community development and poverty re duction.

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Maritime Silk Road routes

Japanese envoy ship

As a gesture to express Japan’s deep gratitude for the assistance and support received after the tragic 2011 disaster, and to promote the country’s tourism resur-gence, the UNWTO Regional Support Office for Asia and the Pacific and the Japan Foundation (JF) hosted special symposiums on 14 March in Rome, and 16 March in Madrid at their respective JF centers.

A special movie, produced collectively with JF and translated in 8 languages (English, Italian, Spanish, German, Portuguese, French, Indonesian, and Viet-namese) which has been shown at universities and JF centers across the world, expressed special thanks for the warm international support, and was played prior to the symposium.

Ms. Mami Miyata, nun and travel writer, was ap-pointed as a travel adviser of the UNWTO Regional Support Office for Asia and the Pacific and she deliv-ered the first presentation of the symposium where she extended a heartfelt gratitude for the international sup-port after the tragic disaster, stressing that this kind-ness will be handed down to future generations and will never be forgotten.

She also shared accounts of her personal volunteer experience following the disaster and how visitation to

Special Symposium - Rome and MadridAPTEC Activities 1

their affected area has offered encouragement to the lo-cal communities.

In addition, the presentation featured several of Ja-pan’s wonders including establishing good harmony with nature, diverse mixture of old and new, and varie-ties of rich Silk Road heritages, amongst others.

The second presentation was delivered by architect, Mr. Shoichi Haryu. He mainly discussed the develop-ment of a safe town in the affected areas. He mentioned that careful planning such as growing natural plant trees and laying out porous types of bricks, amongst other planning considerations could help minimize the damage from a future disaster. Furthermore, he empha-sized that ideas of redeveloping communities in the area should come from a combination of Japan’s engineering know-how and with international insight and wisdom.

The symposium ended with a question and answer session which drew lively participation. In total, more than 100 people from the general public, embassies, and a variety of media at both venues helped contribute to the success of the symposiums.

Japan Foundation in Madrid

Progress of the Maritime Silk RoadAPTEC Activities 2

As mentioned in the past several publications, the UNWTO Regional Support Office has been undertak-ing a study for the Maritime Silk Road; the effort of which is just now being completed.

The Silk Road symbolizes a historical network of in-terlinking trade routes between Asian nations compris-ing connections, not only by land but also by maritime routes. Vessels were utilized, especially when heavy objects such as potteries and wines needed to be car-ried. As a result, some such maritime routes were called spices and pottery roads for this reason.

Maritime routes run through the Mediterranean, the Middle East, India and through to the East China Sea. Consequently, many of the key trading points and port cities prospered as a result of the impact of trade, which additionally left numerous rich cultural legacies.

In this research, Japan, Cambodia, Thailand, and Singapore were reported and the research also found further trade links with other countries as determined through various proofs such as ancient Buddhist re-mains, religious edifices, and pottery items, amongst others. Additionally, the estimated duration of trading periods were also identified.

The Maritime Silk Road is a gem of tourism’s potential not only for Asia and the Pacific but also for the entire region. To achieve full impact, a deeper investigation of historic records, epigraphs, antiquities, and building structure will be required so that tourism planners can accurately present the history of the area and to plan and promote tourism products accordingly.

The UNWTO Regional Support Office would like to thank all Maritime Silk Road countries for their assis-tance and for their future cooperation.

Maritime Silk Road routes

Japanese envoy ship

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In times of global instability, Asia Pacific nations are leading the way in acknowledging tourism´s potential to bring positive economic, political and social change, with six nations in the region having already committed to supporting UNWTO and WTTC´s joint Global Leaders for Tourism Cam-paign since its launch in March 2011.

This month marks the first anniversary of the campaign, which seeks to encourage top-level political recognition of tourism´s potential in generating sustainable socio-eco-nomic growth and development, creating jobs and aiding in the global shift towards a responsible, sustainable, Green Economy.

So far in the Asia Pacific Region, leaders of Indonesia, China, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Brunei and the Phil-ippines have received one of the UNWTO/WTTC´s Open Letters, which outlines the importance of prioritiz-ing travel and tourism in national policies to maximize the sector´s potential.

“Tourism has provided job opportunities for millions of people across the globe; is one of the leading exports of developing countries; and is a key stimulus in the trans-formation to a green economy,” said Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, the first Asia Pacific recipient of the Open Letter.

Other recipients have been equally enthusiastic about

the initiative, with the Malaysian Prime Minister Dato’ Sri Mohd Najib bin Tun Abdul Razak vowing to become ´an ambassador for world tourism´ and China declaring the sector a strategic pillar of its national economy and policy.

With the Asia and the Pacific Region emerging from recent years of global economic downturn as one of the strongest tourism regions (both South Asia and South East Asia have seen double-digit growth in international tour-ist arrivals according to recent statistics from the World Tourism Barometer, at 13% and 12% respectively), these countries are now showing firm leadership in exploring avenues to rejuvenate national economies. To date, coun-tries from the Asia Pacific Region make up almost 30% of those already committed the Global Leaders for Tourism Campaign.

“Tourism needs to be regarded as a new growth engine of the 21st century¨, said Republic of Korean Prime Min-ister Kim Hwang-sik. Dr Taleb Rifai, Secretary-General of UNWTO highlighted the importance of the Global Leaders for Tourism Campaign in doing this, stating that “we need to garner support for tourism from outside the sector if we are to continue to grow and contribute to global wellbeing.”

Subsequently, two additional countries in the region have expressed interest in endorsing the Open Letter over the coming months.

Golden Book Initiative

Asia Pacific Leads World in Recognizing Importance of Tourism to National Economies 1 2

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6

3

5

1 President of the Philippines, Benigno Aquino

2 President of Indonesia, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono

3 Sultan of Brunei Darussalam, His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzaddin Waddualah

4 Prime Minister of Malaysia, Dato’ Sri Mohd Najib bin Tun Abdul Razak

5 Prime Minister of the Republic of Korea, Kim Hwang-sik

6 Vice Premier of China, Wang Qishan

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Q1. As the Chairperson of the upcoming 24th Joint Meeting of the UNWTO Commis-sion for East Asia and the Pacific and UN-WTO Commission for South Asia, what will be your main role?

The Joint-Commission Meeting is an important plat-form to enhance collaboration among member countries and demonstrate the importance of cooperation through the sharing of best practices and tourism development plans as a means to raise the level of standards in terms of tourism products and services offerings which, in turn, will increase the overall demand for travel and tourism.

There is an urgent need to see beyond intra-regional com-petition and work towards complementary positioning to harness the full potential of tourism. Toward this end, the Meeting will focus on developing joint tourism programs and projects for mutual benefit. At the same time, the Meeting will build upon successes of previous meetings and foster greater synergy towards creating a renewed in-

terest in each other’s destinations. We would also like to discuss and secure a collective stand among our members on recent developments that affect the global tourism in-dustry and assist in finding solutions for respective issues.

Q2. Malaysia’s term of office as the Chair-person of the UNWTO Commission for East Asia and the Pacific is from 2012 – 2113. What plans do you have to improve tour-ism in the region as a whole? What will the Commission remember you for after your chairmanship?

The foremost objective is to strengthen regional coopera-tion in the development of tourism products and services geared towards tapping the new and rapidly growing seg-ment of travelers in the Asia Pacific region. This is based on the observation that despite being home to more than one-third of the world’s populations, the region has tra-ditionally looked West for source markets. As the size of the regional economies grow, we are presented with the prospect of a more accessible and affluent source markets

Interview: Tourism Minister of Malaysia, Datuk Seri Dr Ng Yen Yen

at our doorsteps that can be harnessed so that member economies collectively benefit from the increased travel demand.

Malaysia’s role will be aimed at fostering greater collabo-ration among members at the public and private sector levels. This will be carried out through the process of en-gagement and consultation on the tourism outlook, pri-orities and strategies which will be translated into concrete programs, projects and activities that will be implemented. Among the possible areas of collaboration include human capital development, marketing and promotion, green tourism and community-based tourism. In this regard, CAP will be working closely with the UNWTO to pro-vide the technical expertise and ensure the successful im-plementation and achievement of desired outcomes.

Lastly, it is hoped that the improvements will create a val-ue proposition that develops stronger relationships among our members and encourages expansion in membership. On the question of legacy, Malaysia would certainly like to be able to join the ranks of our predecessors that have led CAP to become the success that it is today. In this re-gard, Malaysia in the capacity as Chairman would like to make a difference by contributing towards mainstream-ing tourism into the national economy and developing high-impact tourism programmes that promote growth, sustainability and inclusiveness.

Q3. Let’s talk about marketing strategy for the South Asian Market. What is Tourism Malaysia’s approach to promotion?

While maintaining connections with repeat travelers from major cities, Malaysia is focusing new marketing ini-tiatives in Tier II and Tier III cities throughout the region to tap the first time travelers, families and youth segments.

In terms of promotion, a strong online campaign has been employed beyond the more traditional media, in view of the vast geographical distribution of population and internet infrastructure that often exceed the reach of other channels. Among the products promoted include “fly and drive”, golf, eco tourism, adventure tourism, sport tourism as well as MICE.

The region’s robust economy and large population makes it an attractive tourist generating market. Last year, India

alone contributed 693,000 tourist arrivals to Malaysia, making it the second largest market outside the ASEAN region.

Q4. How did the tourism industry in Malay-sia fare in 2011? And which tourism event were you most excited about last year and why?

Malaysia recorded overall growth in tourism arrivals last year despite being hampered by global economic, political, social and natural environmental challenges. Tourist arriv-als rose to 24.71 million compared to 24.58 in 2010 while receipts climbed to RM58.3 billion (about USD19.4 bil-lion) compared to RM56.5 billion (about USD18.8 bil-lion) the previous year.

The top ten tourist generating markets were Singapore,

Indonesia, Thailand China Brunei India Australia United Kingdom, Japan and the Philippines.

Markets showing strong growth were Kazakhstan, New Zealand, Russia and Iran.

An event that we were most excited about last year was the inaugural 1Malaysia International Tourism Night Floral Parade 2011 from July 19 – 27 at Putrajaya Lake. Tourists were treated to nine nights of 13 boats decorated with artistic array of lights showcasing tourism themes ac-companied by music and dance performances. It was syn-chronised with laser lights multimedia display culminating with fireworks. This year’s 1Malaysia International Tour-ism Night Floral Parade will take place from 30 June to 8 July with participants from overseas.

The garden city of Putrajaya is Malaysia’s federal admin-istrative capital. With a 38 km waterfront area and a 4.2 km-long boulevard filled with many aesthetically-pleasing buildings and bridges being promoted as a new must-see destination to local and foreign visitors.

Q5. Can you describe “Kesatria 1 Malaysia” programme launched by the Malaysia Con-vention & Exhibition Bureau (MyCEB)?

‘Kesatria 1Malaysia’ programme was launched in early 2012 by the Malaysia Convention & Exhibition Bureau (MyCEB). It is modeled on similar programmes operat-ing internationally whereby leaders of key industry sec-

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tors who have previously hosted large-scale international events, voluntarily assist in identifying and encouraging other potential local hosts to bid for and stage interna-tional events.

A total of 17 industry champions from various key eco-nomic sectors such as science and medical, oil and gas, IT and electronic, research and innovations, and also experts from the field of accountancy, audit and public speaking, were appointed to participate in the programme. By lever-aging their expertise, knowledge, flair and influence, My-CEB and Tourism Malaysia are confident that Malaysia will achieve its goal of growing business tourism arrivals from 5 per cent of total tourist arrivals in 2009 to 8 per cent which translates to an increase from 1.2 million busi-ness tourists to 2.9 million by the year 2020.

Q6. What are some of the exciting develop-ments or projects in tourism which Malaysia is currently working on?

The Malaysia Tourism Transformation Plan (or MTTP) which was unveiled in 2010 sets the target of increasing tourist arrivals to 36 million tourists and receipts to USD 1 billion a week by the year 2020. To achieve these targets, 12 Entry Point Projects were initiated based on the themes of affordable luxury; family fun; event; business tourism and nature adventure. These themes set the focus for the tourism industry development taking into consideration the different market segment demand in order to attract the higher yield segment into the country.

Q7. In 2010, tourism market grew signifi-cantly for the first time since the Economic Crisis of 2008. Also, according to the UN-WTO World Tourism Barometer, interna-tional tourist arrivals grew by over 4% in 2011. What is your opinion about these facts, and what are Malaysia’s hopes and ex-pectations for 2012?

It is indeed a very positive development that the global tourist arrival grew by 4% in 2011. Therefore, it is hoped that Malaysia will be able perform better in 2012 and achieve higher growth in order to achieve our goals by the year 2020. The focus of our tourism industry will also be directed towards the higher yield segment as we aspire to grow more in receipts as compared to tourist arrivals. This would be approached through encouraging longer stays and introducing more high-end tourism products and ser-vices to encourage higher spending in line with the Malay-sia Tourism Transformation Plan.

a. Johor Premium Outlets, the first Premium Outlet in South East Asia was launched in November 2011. It is one of the regions finest shopping outlets featur-ing 80 designer and name brand stores.

b. KL City Walk is Kuala Lumpur’s first-ever pedes-trian strip mall spanning 500m along the commercial and business district in Kuala Lumpur offers tourists a relaxing and exciting time as they can shop, experi-ence and see the Malaysia culture and lifestyle as well as enjoy a variety of dining experiences.

c. Helicopter Tours is an exciting way to observe Malaysia’s varied terrain, as well as provide an aerial perspective of Malaysia’s skyscrapers and other land-marks. The tours are available at major tourist des-tinations, namely in Kuala Lumpur, Langkawi and Sabah.

d. Legoland Malaysia, Asia’s first Legoland theme park, and the 6th worldwide, is scheduled to open by the end of 2012. It will offer 40 rides, shows and displays of the famous Lego bricks of Denmark, pro-viding an enjoyable, family fun experience.

Some of the new tourism products in Malaysia are:



together with several tour-related stakeholders, such as pri-vate/business sector, public sector/government, and civil societies to communities, there are more opportunities and advantages to solve problems more efficiently. The follow-ing below shows the motives and reasons for collaboration and benefits that may be derived;●To reflect multiple aims and agreement on common

targets●To ensure inclusiveness and equity●To raise awareness and engage those with power over

outcomes●To link components in the value chain●To strengthen long term support and commitment●To pool knowledge and skills●To strengthen resources and funding●To widen contacts and reinforce communication●To add value and creativity●To share costs and risks – economies of scale

Involving collaborative approach with a small private sec-tor business and a plan to promote new sustainable desti-nation by local levels, the integration brought possibilities to establish and brand a new offer based around the special qualities of the area, while also stimulating each other to improve their own business and environmental manage-ment.

The Tourism Industry, governments and society in gen-eral all stand to benefit from the development of tourism which is both sustainable and competitive – taking full ac-count of its economic, social and environmental impact. However, there is a growing appreciation that the success-ful delivery of sustainable tourism requires a strong process of collaboration between a wide range of organizations and stakeholders. Collaborative processes have three main aspects, which are: who should collaborate and why they should do so; the actions to deliver sustainability which most require a collaborative approach and at what levels; and how collaborative processes can be established and strengthened and the factors for success.

Tourism Sustainability and the Need for Collaboration

According to the UNWTO, sustainability principles refer to the environmental, economic, and socio-cultural aspects of tourism development. In this regard, a suitable balance must be established between three dimensions; one, make optimal use of environmental resources that constitute a key element in tourism development, two, re-spect the socio-cultural authenticity of host communities, and three, ensure viable, long-term economic operations, providing socio-economic benefits to all stakeholders that are fairly distributed.

For long-term sustainable tourism development, collabo-ration with multi-stakeholders is a key factor. By working



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Strengthening Collaborative Processes – Factors for Success

In approaching a new situation, it will be vital to pose a set of questions that will inform and support the design of a multi-stakeholder process. Each situation or issue re-quires participants to design a process successfully suited to its particular needs and context. From successful ex-amples of enhancing interactive relationship with multi-stakeholders, key success factors can be seen.

It is the people who make partnerships work. People are the ones who believe that something is the right thing to do and who choose to apply their energy, drive, com-mitment and creativity to work with others towards its achievement.

No two situations are ever the same. There will always be a need to design an approach specifically to meet the needs of the problem or opportunity that is being ad-dressed within the specific context in which it occurs.

Multi-stakeholder collaborations are learning experi-ences. Working with others will provide numerous op-portunities to see and do things differently. Nowhere does this apply more than to finding new and creative so-lutions to problems that are encountered along the way.

All stakeholders need to see their relative benefits. This is important in encouraging and maintaining participa-tion and action should be designed and spread accord-ingly.

Getting StartedIn the beginning stage of any multi-stakeholder collab-

oration or a formation of a partnership, initial opportu-nities, ideas and concepts are recognized. When an actual potential initiative occurs with a possible future collabo-ration, it is helpful to think about several options before any final decisions are made. It is important to decide when the right moment has come for expression of an interest in working together.

Levels and Opportunities for Collaboration on Sustainable Tourism

The next step will be looking at the importance and role of multi-stakeholder collaboration at different levels and the structure.

Multi-stakeholders can integrate within large to small scale of levels, such as international, national and destina-tion level. International collaboration can be identified by stakeholders who come together and talk about tour-ism sustainability issues and confirm agreement through joint policy statements and also influence the policies of individual participants. International collaboration can also involve links between international agencies to dif-ferent countries, within common tourism projects.

Collaboration at a national level can play a key role in ensuring that a nation’s tourism policies and actions em-brace sustainability concerns and that tourism is recog-nized as a vital contributor to sustainable development and afforded the right levels of support. It can provide the basis for establishing various policy instruments such as regulations, planning control and financial incentives.

The Destination level brings many advantages for stake-holders together at the sub-national level to plan and ful-fill sustainable tourism. In many countries, joint actions for tourism at a destination level between local authori-ties and the private sector is common. These commit-tees are typically engage in tourism marketing and visitor information, but may often become involved in tourism planning, infrastructure, visitor management, improving quality standards, training and industry support.

The last level is community level, which take many initiatives focusing on sustainable development through tourism, with specific objectives around promoting live-lihoods, natural resources, and poverty alleviation. A particularly successful form of collaboration has been the formation of joint ventures between well established and knowledgeable private sector operators and local com-munities.

laborative relationships and they have agreed the same expectations of success: the sustainable development of tourism to generate income for the local people, while considering nature.

Overall, the partnership has worked well. Despite few flaws and obstacles, collaboration has demonstrated a number of strengths: one, a high level of government support, two, well-structured relationship with the pri-vate sector, three, relevant funding, four, sufficient prepa-ration and training, and five, learning from others with flexible participation.

This project was the first of its kind in Bhutan. The pilot project has created an aspect of collaboration in fu-ture plans, which may be possible to go further with suc-cessful developments. With the experience that partner organizations have gained for sustainable tourism devel-opment, well informed Steering committees can enable well-structured and positive contribution from main stakeholders in project formulation and implementation.

Determining Goals and ActionsThis stage is to create a common vision and goals that

the partners will be willing to work toward. Identifying goals in a shared design will give ownership to partici-pants.

Adaptive ManagementThere are several key criteria to consider when manag-

ing and evaluating the collaborative process. One point is to define the level of success. It is not always easy to reach consensus when different parties thinks from a different point of view. Another point is the progress and evaluation systems which need to be continuously reviewed through reports to meetings and presentation to partners. Another criterion is learning and adapting through the identified obstacles. It benefits the partner-ship to learn from its experience which leads to widening of scope, and change in re-shaping and improvement af-ter an initial phase.

Case Study_Bhutan : Partnership for Community BasedTourism Providing an In _ built Link to Market Knowledge and Contacts

In Bhutan, a new venture is developing to spread tourism benefits to communities in lesser known areas, through local participation and links to conservation, while also engaging tour operator networks. It was felt that Bhutanese-style, guided community tourism could successfully help to address rural poverty issues while giving forest-dependent people incentives for protecting and maintaining the environment. Areas within the Jigne Singye Wangchuk National Park were considered as ben-eficial opportunities for delivering social and economic growth as well as for building high ecological and cul-tural interest. Including the Department of Tourism and SNV, various stakeholders acknowledged that successful community tourism development would depend on col-

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The responses from the various contributors including academics and tourism professionals have clearly shown the limitations of statistical data where they have had to depend on secondary sources. There has been a demand for research through primary sources that, in the case of domestic tourism depends entirely on household surveys. This exercise is both onerous and time consuming and falls outside the purview of the present study. Moreover, house-hold surveys of large destinations such as India and China are impractical except when undertaken on a regional or local level. Household surveys have been undertaken in some destinations such as the Philippines and Indonesia which the respective authors have utilized in their analysis. In the case of Iran, the author had undertaken a limited survey of his own.

Salient findings of domestic tourism in Asia and the Pacific●Though international tourism dominates Asian tour-

ism, domestic tourism continues to be the mainstay of most destinations from the point of view of its contri-bution to the GDP.

●Comparison between domestic tourism in the West and Asia is difficult due to the structural and socio-economic differences of the 2 entities. However, some social practices such as holiday vouchers common in France, for example, have been introduced in China and Republic of Korea. These obviously benefit domes-tic travelers.

●Australia and New Zealand continue to dominate Asian domestic tourism in their organizational framework based on Western concepts and practices especially in the use of TSAs. Their experiments and findings have found to be invaluable in evolving systems and practices that could be replicated in Asian destinations.

●Indonesia has restructured its domestic tourism segment within the Ministry of Tourism to act as a buffer against fickle international tourism movements. Indonesia, more than any other destination in Asia and the Pacific, has been badly affected by natural and man-made crises in the recent past and hence offers a good example of resilience and adaptation in the face of adversity.

●The case study of India provides good insight into the importance of religious tourism as a market source for domestic tourism. Since many Asian destinations have a religious background to their cultural and architectur-al assets, the Indian study could provide valuable data for replication and analysis by NTAs and NTOs.

●Some specific case studies emerged from Thailand (community involvement) and Republic of Korea (agro-tourism) that could also be replicated.

●Regional variations (China) especially in the context of urban-rural rapport are important for researchers par-ticularly since the rural exodus has an enormous bear-ing on domestic tourism in all Asian destinations.

●Product development (accommodation) still lacks co-hesive policy and planning with the informal sector dominating domestic tourism in Asia and the Pacific but with very little reliable statistical data.

●While low-cost airlines have seen a resurgence (India and Malaysia), road and rail transport dominate do-mestic tourism in many destinations.

●Many Asian domestic tourism products are dependent on public sector support and subsidies. Though NGOs have been associated in certain instances, basically the State is expected to provide the necessary assistance for the sector.

●Market segmentation has been successfully analyzed by New Zealand but the concept is likely too sophisticated for application by other Asian destinations.

●Sustainable tourism development as a part of domestic tourism is a new phenomenon but many destinations in Asia and the Pacific have taken note of its impor-tance.

●Domestic tourism in Asia and the Pacific is basically family oriented with visiting friends and relations (VFR) the dominating motivation for travel. However, with a growing middle-class emerging in most Asian destinations (an estimated 200 million in India), the demand for leisure travel by domestic travelers is on the increase.

●Domestic tourism marketing plans have played a sec-ondary role within most NTAs and NTOs but this will change in the future once the socio-economic impact of the sector is exposed.

This domestic tourism study was initiated in 2011 and will be published by the UNWTO in 2012. The responses to the call for the contribution to domestic tourism were received from the authors of the following countries: Aus-tralia, China, India, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Mongolia, New Zealand, Pakistan, Phil-ippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam. The main ob-jectives were outlined as follows:

(a) Compile domestic tourism statistics and analyze char-acteristics focusing on its socio-economic impact and resilient capacity.

(b) Elucidate information on the accommodation(formal and informal), transport, leisure, and safety and security sectors that have a bearing on domestic tourism.

(c) Provide guidelines for sustainable development of domestic tourism and highlight best practice cases in terms of strategies, policies and product development. (d) Increase the related stakeholders’ awareness of domestic tourism which plays an important role in socioeconomic development and industry’s resilience during global crisis situation. (e) Serve as a useful groundwork for further studies on domestic tourism in Asia and the Pacific and the rest of the world.

Unlike international tourism where statistics of arrivals

and departures are readily available from frontier sources, domestic tourism is inhibited by a paucity of reliable data, and this has been the main handicap to a clear analysis of the role and final contribution of domestic tourism to the economy of the countries concerned. This calls for the establishment of Tourism Satellite Accounts (TSAs) that, because of their embryonic stage in most Asian and Pacific destinations, barring Australia and New Zealand, has not been capable of supplying the vital information for a clear, in-depth and reliable analysis of domestic tourism in Asian tourism.

Asian tourism has seen a spectacular growth in the past three decades with many countries investing in tourism as a source of foreign exchange. But at the same time, the region has been ravaged by a number of natural and man-made calamities that have undermined the dependence on international tourism. For example, international tourism receipts account for 30% of the GDP of the Maldives. The risk therefore is enormous. Domestic tourism, however, has been the reserve on which many Asian destinations such as Indonesia, Sri Lanka and the Philippines have fall-en back during the various crises that affected them in the last decade. When it is realized that on an average there are four times as many domestic tourists compared to interna-tional arrivals in most destinations the value of this sector cannot be undermined.

Domestic Tourism Study Across Asia and the Pacific

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Household composition, family structures and travel parties

One of the main subsidiary effects of the demographic changes will be a change in the household composition in the countries examined. We have seen a shift from what Willmott and Young called the Horizontal to the Verti-cal family. That means that families have tended to shift from being largely flat – with many members of the same generation to being long – with a greater spread across the generations. This suggests that tourism is going to be re-quired to adapt itself to provide a more varied offering. Travel parties may now be comprised of grandparents tak-ing grandchildren on holiday, or of whole families that potentially contain great grandparents as well, with conse-quences for the activities on offer, type of accommodation required and staffing levels.

The rise in the developed world of the single traveler has been a significant development. It reflects a growing trend in wider society for young people to spend a period of time living alone or with friends before marrying and starting a family.

Population locationThe population of all the countries looked at (and the

world) is set to become increasingly urban over the period. Cities dwellers tend to have a more cosmopolitan outlook, as a result of living in a more culturally diverse environ-ment. This means they are more likely to travel abroad and this will help drive the rise in tourism that is projected.

In addition to this factor, the rising importance of the developing world will have a large influence on tourism in the next two decades.

Asia easily dwarfs other continents, and will continue to do so. In 2030, Asia will account for 60% of the world’s population; with India and China each contributing just less than 20%.

Life expectancy increasing and converging across the globe

Across the countries examined, life expectancy continues to increase. The next issue when it comes to life expectancy is the issue of healthy life expectancy − that is, not just how long people live, but what level of health they enjoy while they are alive. The trend across the world has been for mor-bidity to decline at the same time – though not at the same rate as – life expectancy increases worldwide. A HSBC re-tirement report found that only 16% of those over 70 said that they had poor or very poor health. Therefore, not only is an increase in older tourists expected (because they live longer and are richer) but they will be fitter and younger looking in outlook.

Figure 2 Example of the ‘Three-Peaks’ model: Italian population by age band (%)

––– 1990 ––– 2010 ––– 2030

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65-6

9

70-7

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80-8

4

85-8

9

90-9

4

95-9

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100+

World Population Prospects: The 2008 Revision, 2009.

Figure 3 Example of the ‘Slope’ model: Indian population by age band (%)

Source: World Population Prospects: The 2008 Revision, 2009.

0-4

5-9

10-1

4

15-1

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85-8

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100+

––– 1990 ––– 2010––– 2030

Figure 4 China – A combined model? Chinese population by age band (%)


0-4

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––– 1990 ––– 2010––– 2030

Figure 5 Proportion of the world population living in urban areas (%)


1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020 2025 2030

Figure 6 Asia’s population and fertility

–––– India fertility (1)–––– Asia fertility (2) Population

–––– China fertility (3)–––– Japan fertility (4)

6,000,000

5,000,000

4,000,000

3,000,000

2,000,000

1,000,000

0

4.5

4.0

3.5

3.0

2.5

2.0

1.5

1.0

0.5

0.0

1985-1990

1990-1995

1995-2000

2000-2005

2005-2010

2010-2015

2015-2020

2020-2025

2025-2030

1

2

3

4

Special Report: Demographic Change and Tourism

Growth of the world’s population Changing demographics will have a dramatic impact

upon tourism in coming decades, impacting the types of tourists that will travel, where they originate from, where they travel to, the types of accommodation they require and the activities they engage in while away.

Between now and 2030, world population is forecast to grow over the period from 6.9 billion to 8.3 billion peo-ple. This growth will not be evenly spread across the globe, rather different regions will expand at different rates and some will actively decline as a percentage of the total.

Population growth will generate substantial expansion in overseas travel. In 2000, the rate of international journeys was 11.5 per 100 people. If this rate was to remain un-changed, world population growth alone would create a 20% rise in international travel, which does not account for increased travel growth rates of 20 per 100 people that is forecasted in the developing economies.

Demographic Change and TourismIt is important to bear in mind that not all demographic

changes will necessarily hold repercussions for tourism. A recent report by the German Federal Ministry of Econom-ics and Technology found that demographic alterations are likely to have an impact on tourism only if they ‘arise in those groups (e.g. older people, children, the less afflu-ent, single parents etc.), which represent a sizeable volume, and will be considerably larger or smaller in volume and whose behaviour differs from other groups’.

Ageing populationPopulation ageing is a phenomenon occurring across the

globe; however it has taken different forms in different re-gions. Broadly we have divided these into two models: the ‘Three Peaks’ model, and the ‘Slope’ model.

The Three Peaks model is characterised by three succes-sive spikes in population each progressively older than the last. This pattern corresponds to a population in which there is a clear majority of one age group at any one time, and this majority progressively aging, generating a peak on the graph. As a rule, the Three Peaks model is seen in de-veloped economies like Canada, and Italy.

The Slope model, by contrast, shows an age distribution that is bunched towards the younger years, with a notable tail off in the numbers of older people (hence the slope). It tends to be a feature of developing nations such as India and Brazil.

Due to its history of social engineering and the large scale social and economic changes taking place in China recently, it displays a combination of both of the above models.

Figure 1 World population, 1990-2030 ( x 1000)

9,000,000

8,000,000

7,000,000

6,000,000

5,000,000

4,000,000

3,000,000

2,000,000

1,000,000

01990 2010 2030

Other

Northern America

Europe

Asia

Latin America andthe Caribbean

Source: Population Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations Secretariat, World PopulationProspects: The 2008 Revision 2009


––– 1990 ––– 2010 ––– 2030

10

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––– 1990 ––– 2010––– 2030



1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020 2025 2030




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0

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1995-2000

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2005-2010

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2015-2020

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2025-2030

1

2

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4

30

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26

Life expectancy●Increased life expectancy will mean there are larger num-

bers of older tourists from existing markets in developed countries. The needs of these consumers may be many such as the need for proximity to medical care (this is important given the forecast increase in conditions such as obesity and allergies in the future).

●Fortunately, developments in telemedicine should help facilitate travel and tourism for older (and younger) tourists with chronic medical conditions

●Older tourists will have a ‘younger’ outlook than previ-ous generations of older tourists and may well be more adventurous wanting to try new things.

●Despite this, greater numbers of these older tourists will have minor disabilities (such as difficulties climb-ing stairs, etc.). Both the accommodation and transport sectors of the industry need to take account of this in terms of design and staff training.

Household composition and family structures●Overall, as households and families become more di-

verse – more multi-generational, more singles, more ‘second’ families and so on – the whole of the tourism sector will have to respond to this diversity.

●Marketing and communications will have to address new needs and wants that result from these emerging family and household structures. For example, commu-nications will have to demonstrate an understanding of the diverse needs of those travelling in multi-generation parties.

●Accommodation providers also need to respond to this new demographic diversity through more flexible ac-commodation (especially adjoining rooms designed for the needs of three generations).

●Accommodation pricing might also seek to tap into (rather than alienate) the growing singles markets. This might involve more attractive pricing for single people or improved childcare and babysitting for single parents in hotels and resorts.

Population location●The changing distribution of the population across the

globe (along with changes in the economic centre of power) will see an increase in the importance of Asian tourists to the European market.

●This requires all elements of the industry to be sensitive

to the cultural and religious needs of these tourists.●Among urban dwellers in developed markets, the ex-

perience of urban life may create a demand for ru-ral tourism experiences (for a change of scene and a change of pace).

●For these groups we envisage a strong appeal for tour-ism products that offer a ‘back to nature’ element (per-haps experiences on farms that put tourists in touch with the realities of food and drink production).

Migration●In the recent past, migration into Europe has increased

significantly. This looks set to continue as migration does within parts of Europe.

●This will give a strong boost to the visiting friends and relations (VFR) and migration led tourism markets.

●These tourists will have a diverse set of needs depend-ing on their circumstances. Most economic migrants will be relatively poor and dependent on low cost forms of travel such as budget airlines or coach travel.

●However, there will be a significant minority of rela-tively wealth migrants (and their families) working in the great financial centres of Europe or whose chil-dren are located in Europe for their education. These tourists will have very different needs and may use premium travel options and stay in premium accom-modation.

A final factor that affects population distribution is mi-gration. Migration can affect tourism in two ways; tour-ism can draw migrants to parts of the world where there is a need for workers (TLM, Tourism Led Migration). And migration can draw tourists to visit their places of birth, or relatives working abroad (MLT, Migration led Tourism). These two processes are clearly interlinked.

Demographic Change in AsiaAsia displays considerable intra-continental differences

between developed and developing nations with regards to many demographic factors. Fertility is set to decline steadily from 3.47 children per woman in 1990 to 2.1 in 2030. While this is a steep decline it is notable that Asian fertility will not drop below replacement level during the time-period under review.

Asian life expectancy is set to increase in line with global trends. In 1990, it stood at 62.7 years, with a low 2.5 year difference between male life expectancy (61.5) and female (64). However, as the average life expectancy has increased,

male and female expectancy has become increasingly di-vergent. By 2030, the difference is set to reach a still rel-atively minor 4 years; with male expectancy standing at 71.6 and female at 75.7, the average will be 73.6.

Asia’s shift from rural to urban has been one of the most dramatic trends of the last few decades. Between 1990 and 2030, the pattern of urban vs. rural habitation is set to shift from just 30% urban to almost 60%. Within this demographic shift the change in the profile of India and China are hugely significant. Both of these nations show a double-digit increase in their urban population, India’s ris-ing from 25% to just over 45% and China’s moving from just under 30% to just fewer than 60%.

What impact do such trends have on tour-ism demand and travel behavior?

Population and ageing●Tourists from developing countries are likely to be

younger with very distinctive needs than older tourists from more traditional source markets. This could force a stark choice for tourism destinations in their market-ing, communications and product development.

●For transport and accommodation, the tension between designing products and services for older and younger tourists may not be so stark. Design that takes into ac-count the needs of older tourists might simply come to be seen as examples of good design for all.

●There may be a radical challenge in current assumptions about the implications of ageing for tourism needs and wants.


––– 1990 ––– 2010 ––– 2030

10

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2

1

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4

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4

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9

80-8

4

85-8

9

90-9

4

95-9

9

100+




0-4

5-9

10-1

4

15-1

9

20-2

4

25-2

9

30-3

4

35-3

9

40-4

4

45-4

9

50-5

4

55-5

9

60-6

4

65-6

9

70-7

4

75-7

9

80-8

4

85-8

9

90-9

4

95-9

9

100+

––– 1990 ––– 2010––– 2030



0-4

5-9

10-1

4

15-1

9

20-2

4

25-2

9

30-3

4

35-3

9

40-4

4

45-4

9

50-5

4

55-5

9

60-6

4

65-6

9

70-7

4

75-7

9

80-8

4

85-8

9

90-9

4

95-9

9

100+

––– 1990 ––– 2010––– 2030



1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020 2025 2030




6,000,000

5,000,000

4,000,000

3,000,000

2,000,000

1,000,000

0

4.5

4.0

3.5

3.0

2.5

2.0

1.5

1.0

0.5

0.0

1985-1990

1990-1995

1995-2000

2000-2005

2005-2010

2010-2015

2015-2020

2020-2025

2025-2030

1

2

3

4

Source market Key demographic issues

World

Regions

Europe Rapidly falling fertility, ageing population high level of migration.

Asia Rising population particularly India and China, relatively high fertility, large scale

urbanisation.

Latin America and the Caribbean Fertility falling to replacement level, slightly ageing population, extended life expectancy.

Northern America: United States of America and Canada

States of America and Canada, especially regarding life expectancy. High migration.

Table 1

Increased life expectancy – women lead men, falling fertility – still above replacement, rising population 5 to 8 billion (from 1990-2030).

Table 1

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Thailand. King MengRai himself was a very religious leader and established many of the city’s temples that remain im-portant to this day.

Chiang Mai is one of the few places in Thailand in which it is possible to experience both historical and modern Thai culture in harmony: The city features centuries-old chedis and temples next to modern convenience stores and bou-tique hotels. This dichotomy is most clearly visible in the moat-encircled old city, which retains much of the forti-fied wall that once protected the city center, as well as the four main gates that provided access to the former Lanna capital city.

For many years, Chiang Mai was falsely perceived by some tourists simply as the base from which they could plan trekking and rafting trips to nearby hill tribe villages and other provinces. However, once in Chiang Mai, tour-ists are often surprised by the fact that there are so many things to discover there. Apart from its beautiful and his-toric temples, Chiang Mai has an intriguing diversity of ethnic tribes, a number of elephant camps, many cooking and massage schools, numerous outdoor activities, a vari-ety of handicrafts workshops, various cultural performanc-es, and breathtaking scenery. All of these things make Chi-ang Mai one of Asia’s most attractive tourist destinations. The phrase “a day in Chiang Mai is enough to see things around town” was once a common expression. Today, two weeks in Chiang Mai may not be long enough for travel-lers to experience all that Chiang Mai has to offer.

This year, Thailand has the great honour of hosting the 24th Joint Meeting of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) Commission for East Asia and the Pacific and UNWTO Commission for South Asia, as well as the High-Level Regional Conference on Green Tourism. These events will be held at Le Méridien Hotel, Chiang Mai, from the 3rd to the 5th of May 2012 and will be the UNWTO’s first regional tourism meeting to be held in Thailand. As one of UNWTO´s most important events, the Joint Commission Meeting will be attended by influ-ential tourism leaders from both the public and private sector. This event will therefore not only contribute to increasing Thailand´s visibility as key tourism destination in the Asia Pacific region, but also provide attendees with a personal experience of the country.

Destination Report: Thailand Welcomes You to the “Rose of the North”

Thailand is a wondrous kingdom, featuring Buddhist temples, exotic wildlife, and spectacular islands. Along with a fascinating history and a unique culture, Thailand features a modern capital city and friendly people who epitomize Thailand’s “land of smiles” reputation.

Chiang Mai, the “Rose of the North”, is a cultural and natural wonderland of ethnic diversity, a multitude of attractions, and warm hospitality. Chiang Mai literally means “New City” and it has retained the name despite celebrating its 700th anniversary in 1996. King MengRai the Great founded the city as the capital of the Lanna Kingdom on April 12, 1296 and henceforth, Chiang Mai became not only the capital and cultural core of the Lanna Kingdom, but also the center of Buddhism in northern

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Source: Edelman Z (2011) 1st UNWTO International Confer-ence on Tourism and the Media: Conversing with the media

Japanese Fam TourThe Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs has planned

a familiarization tour using social media devices, such as blogs and tweeters as a means of revitalizing the slumped tourism industry in areas devastated by the 2011 earth-quake. The ministry has secured some 21.5 million yen for the project in order to cover 10 distinguished foreign Power-Bloggers’ expenses while visiting Japan at all dif-ferent times. As of February 2012, three influential blog-gers have witnessed Japan’s recovery since its project ini-tiative in December 2011.

“Traditionally, we have invited foreign journalist, writ-ers of magazines and newspapers and TV crews”, said Hi-kariko Ono, director of the public diplomacy division at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with a media interview. He added, “We sincerely hope in spite of the fear of the social media network that some sort of good feedback of those bloggers and tweeters, who visited the site, will get good feedback from their fans and worldwide confidence in Japan and its products will be restored”.

Media Shaping Images of the WorldTourists imagined travel experiences are often closely

equated with their perceptions of a destinations’ image. Being aware of this, destination marketers devote extra attention through their marketing mix to promote im-ages that will appeal to their target visitors. Traditionally, mainstreaming media has occupied a tremendous role in building images of tourism destinations. Specifically, travel journals and magazines provide a direct means for promotion. Although not directly related to tourism is-sues per say, news pertaining to negative or neutral news including military threat, political instability, natural dis-asters and other such forces will undoubtedly negatively impact potential tourists.

Prior to the current new generation of user generated media and social networking, advertisement campaigns or releases have been seen as optimal choices. Mediums such as Youtube, Facebook, Twitter or other intercom-munication media platforms have opened a new era. These, with disseminating owned ubiquitous devices, provide greater accessibility and can be an inexpensive promotional vehicle. In spite of its less cost-effectiveness, traditional promotions by creating slogans, printing and distributing posters and brochures, appearing television commercials will however, remain a necessary promo-tional medium.

Growing Role of Social MediaUtilizing intercommunication by means of social me-

dia means that the traditional one-way directional con-tents flow has been altered. Receivers are now comprising multiple, active roles being content creators and provid-ers. This has been supported by increasing prevalence of electronic devices, loading wireless fidelity technology and other social media advances.

Focus on Tourism Policy:Tourism Promotion Through Social Media

Spontaneous Promotion Via Social MediaThe Philippines has launched a new promotional cam-

paign under the catchphrase “It’s More Fun in the Phil-ippines”. Posters were featured with one representative word of the photo plus this simple phrase typed on land-scape photography of the Philippines. Its official website introduced only three posters, however, following a web search using Google of the new slogan, approximately 61.2 million image results came up in 0.22 seconds. The number of results still rapidly increases. It is important that these are not solely created by government sectors and advertising agencies, but from the market itself which is spontaneously involved in emulating it.

The Philippines current official tourism website, www.itsmorefuninthephilippines.com, provides instructions to treating pictures with the logotypes in order to en-courage people to reproduce new ones. Simpler methods will later be introduced at www.morefunmaker.com. To participate, users have only to select an image file by typ-ing a brief word explaining the photo. Although a user cannot handle complicated computer programs, it is easy to recreate.

Source: It’s more fun in the Philippines

Social Media promotions may not promise equal op-portunities for all business sectors, however, adding a user enjoyment factor, “fun” will greatly assist campaign impact.

Reference:

Majirox News. February 12, 2012. Foreign bloggers and

tweeters to boost tourism in Japan. Retrieved from http://

www.majiroxnews.com/2012/02/12/foreign-bloggers-and-

tweeters-to-boost-tourism-in-japan/

The Mainichi Daily News. February 7, 2012. Japan En-

lists Foreign Bloggers to Revive Tourism in Quake-hit

Areas. Retrieved from http://mdn.mainichi.jp/travel/

news/20120207p2g00m0dm097000c.htm

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Conferences and Meetings

Month Date Conferences and Meetings Venue

May

10-11 The 1st International Conference on ' Sustainable Tourism of the Caspian Sea Coastline: Opportunities and Challenges '

Mahmudabad, Mazandaran Province, Iran, Islamic Republic of

12 - 12 August

EXPO 2012 - The Living Ocean and Coast: Diversity of Re-sources and Sustainable Activities Yeosu, Republic of Korea

15 - 16 WAD - World Agri-Tourism Day Palshiwadi, Baramati, India

31 - 3 June MITE 2012 - Malaysia International Tourism Exchange Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

June

4-7 ILTM 2012 ASIA - International Luxury Travel Market ASIA Shanghai, China

7 - 10 KOTFA 2012 – The 25th Republic of Korea World Travel Fair Seoul, Republic of Korea

14-17 ITE & MICE 2012 - The 26th International Travel Expo & The 7th MICE Travel Expo Hong Kong, China

The 1st International Conference on Sustainable Tourism of Caspian Sea Coastline: Opportunities and Challenges

The University of Maziar, in collaboration with Iranian Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organiza-tion (ICHTO) organize “The 1st International Confer-ence on Sustainable Tourism of Caspian Sea Coastlines: Opportunities and Challenges” in light of the increasing importance of developing more responsible and sustain-able tourism in the Caspian Sea coastlines.

The Conference, which will bring together authorities, representatives and experts of States, non-governmental organizations, higher education institutes and also the students involved in tourism industry from around the world will be held on 10-11 May, 2012 in Mahmu-dabad, the north of Iran.

Featuring international speakers of the highest level, the conference on sustainable tourism of Caspian Sea coast-lines will bring together experts and high profile public

and private tourism stakeholders in panels on:- Investment opportunities in different fields of coastal tourism- Caspian Sea coasts potentials for attracting tourists- Sustainable tourism development approaches in Cas pian Sea coasts - How to better organize Caspian Sea coastal strip- Promoting solidarity among countries surrounding Caspian Sea in field of coastal tourism- Tourism vis-à-vis coming together of cultures in Cas pian Sea areasThe main objective of the conference is to provide a

clear understanding of the challenges and opportunities of the Caspian Sea coastline destinations and it also aims to showcase the relevance and importance of the issues related to tourism and its various facets like, culture, en-vironment, economy, communications, education and research, city and architecture and management. [http://www.cstc2011.com/english/]

MITE 2012 - Malaysia International Tourism Exchange

The largest tourism exchange event in Malaysia, MITE 2012 is not only inviting domestic and foreign travel agencies and tourism companies, but also secured the participation of ministries, foreign missions in Malaysia, members of the media, trade members and tour opera-tors both from Malaysia and abroad to support the effort. MITE 2012 will also be filled with non-stop, fun-packed activities such as international performances and show-cases, seminars, games and competitions. Meanwhile, the event will also share and exchange international cul-tural habits and practices, festivities plus mouthwatering food showcase which will definitely make MITE 2012 an inspiring and exciting experience. This event will be starting on May 31 through June 3, 2012.[http://www.mite2012.com/]

ILTM 2012 ASIA - International Luxury Travel Market ASIA

ILTM Asia 2012 will take place in Shanghai from 4 - 7 June, bringing four days of education, industry insight, one-to-one appointments and an array of networking events. ILTM Asia is a ‘by invitation only’ event, offer-ing a tailor-made diary of one-to-one meetings, exclusive insight into luxury travel trends and developments, plus an enviable business and social networking calendar of events to help you engage with your luxury travel’s elite.[http://www.iltm.net/asia/]

EXPO 2012 - ‘The Living Ocean and Coast: Diversity of Resources and Sustainable Activities’

From May 12 to August 12, EXPO 2012 will be held at the New Port area in Yeosu, Republic of Republic of Korea. Yeosu has the geographical edge that comes from being adjacent to the ocean, and thus, is ideal for realiz-ing the Expo theme, The Living Ocean and Coast. Yeosu Expo’s theme, The Living Ocean and Coast, was di-vided into three sub-themes: Coastal Development and Preservation, New Resources Technology, and Creative Maritime Activities. These sub-themes have been further

developed into 6 thematic groups, namely, Climate & Environment, Marine Life, Marine Industry & Technol-ogy, Marine City & Marine Civilization, and Marine Arts, each of which will be demonstrated in the respec-tive sub-theme pavilions. The Yeosu Expo will provide an opportunity to enhance the international community’s perception of the function and value of the ocean and coast, share knowledge on the proper use of the ocean and coast and recognize the need for cooperation in the marine sector. It will also serve as a venue to learn about the achievements of and future models for the marine sector and offer a valuable opportunity to promote state-of-the-art marine science and technology and related marine industries.[http://eng.expo2012.kr/main.html?mobile_at=Y]

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Asia Pacific News Brief

New Campaign to help grow Australia’s Business Events Sector to $16 Billion by 2020

Tourism Australia has launched a new integrated mar-keting campaign aimed at corporate meeting and event planners as part of a broader strategy to grow Australia’s high yielding business events sector to as much as AUD16 billion by 2020. Launched at the Asia-Pacific Incentives and Meetings Expo (AIME) 2012 in Melbourne, the campaign comes off the back of strong growth in the business events sector.

The multifaceted and digital campaign, including a new website (www.businessevents.australia.com), fol-lows in the footsteps of Tourism Australia’s consumer marketing campaign, “There’s nothing like Australia”, and continued strength in business arrivals to Australia. For the first time Tourism Australia will consistently use the campaign positioning for all business events marketing activity.

The campaign aims to demonstrate why “There’s noth-ing like Australia” for the corporate meetings and incen-tives market and also the associations market, featuring some of Australia’s most outstanding events and team-based activities in settings that are unrivalled by other destinations - from dining under the stars in the spectac-ular outback to activities on World Heritage listed sites.[http://www.media.australia.com/en-au/mediareleases/default_7894.aspx]

Maldives is Safe for Tourists and BusinessThe Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture of Maldives

has announced that Maldives is still safe for tourists un-like some press had previously warned. According to the Ministry’s press release on 18 February 2012, since the Maldives main concept is “One Resort, One Island”, tourists will not experience or be affected by “the level of peaceful demonstrations” in the capital city Malé and some inhabited islands. All tourist facilities and airports are operating normally as usual.

Ha Noi, Vietnam launches Electric Car Service around West Lake

Ha Noi launched an electric car service around West Lake in Tay Ho District on 3 February to mark the 82nd founding anniversary of the Communist Party of Viet-nam (CPV).

The 18km route takes tourists to 21 relic sites and beau-tiful sceneries around the West Lake such as Tran Quoc and Tao Sach pagodas; Vong Thi, Quan Thanh and Co Le temples and Ly Tu Trong Flower Garden.

The West Lake has a long history associated with the formation and development of the capital city of Thang Long - Ha Noi.

Also on 3 February, a pair of ceramic dragons, the larg-est of their kind in Vietnam was inaugurated in the West Lake area.

The two ceramic dragons are made after the dragon style of the Ly Dynasty. They are 7.5m tall each, includ-ing the base, and their bodies are decorated by ceramic plates. The work was made by artisans from Bat Trang pottery craft village in Ha Noi at a total cost of nearly 2.6 billion VND. Earlier, the pair set the Vietnam Guin-ness record as the largest ceramic dragons and they were on display on the occasion of the 1,000th anniversary of Thang Long – Ha Noi in 2010 before being moved to the new site. [http://vietnamtourism.com/e_pages/news/index.asp?loai=2&uid=20384]

Incheon Airport Voted Best Airport for 7 Consecutive Years

Incheon International Airport has been named the Best Airport Worldwide for seven consecutive years. The Best Airport Worldwide award is annually given to the airport with the highest overall score in the survey on airport quality service conducted by the Airports Council Inter-national (ACI).

In 2011, over 350,000 passengers participated in rat-ing over 1,700 airports worldwide on 34 areas of service, facilities and operation. Incheon International Airport was announced the Best Airport Worldwide 2011 after receiving the highest ratings in 26 different categories, and scoring 4.95 out of possible 5 total points. Other top ranking airports include Changi International Airport of Singapore and Beijing Capital International Airport.[http://asiaenglish.visitkorea.or.kr/ena/FU/FU_EN_15.jsp?cid=1558491]

Macau Government Tourist Office hosted Spring Luncheon to thank Travel Trade and Media in Hong Kong

To celebrate the Year of the Dragon with Hong Kong travel trade, business partners and media friends, the Macau Government Tourist Office (MGTO) hosted a spring luncheon at the Conrad Hong Kong Hotel on 3 February to share thanks for their continuous support of Macau’s tourism industry.

João Manuel Costa Antunes, Director of MGTO, led the delegation to join the Spring Luncheon. Over 200 guests from local travel trade, business partners and media were present, including Commissioner for Tour-ism of the Hong Kong SAR Government, Philip Yung, Director of Asia Tourism Exchange Centre, Xu Hui Fang, Deputy Executive Director of Hong Kong Tour-ism Board, Daisy Lam and Chairman of Travel Industry Council of Hong Kong, Michael Wu.

In his welcome remarks, Director Costa Antunes ex-pressed his New Year blessings and gratitude to local trade partners and media for their efforts in making 2011 a successful year for the tourism industry of Macau. The number of visitor arrivals to Macau in 2011 reached 28 million, representing an increase of 12.2% over 2010. Hong Kong constituted the second largest visitor gener-ating market of Macau. Over 7.5 million Hong Kong visitors traveled to Macau last year.

In the Year of the Dragon, the MGTO aims to build Macau as the World Center of Tourism and Leisure with efforts in various areas: promotion of the diversified tour-ism products in Macau under the theme “Touching Mo-ments, Experience Macau”, improvement on tourism legislation and industry management to establish a qual-ity tourism image, and tourism product mix consolida-tion to create the atmosphere for leisure tourism.

In line with MGTO promotional strategies, representa-tives in Hong Kong will carry out promotional activities targeting different market segments, in addition to prod-uct presentations, luncheons, thematic familiarization tours, seminars, roadshows and trade visits etc, to en-hance the communication and collaboration with trade partners and the media. [http://industry.macautourism.gov.mo/en/pressroom/ index.php?page_id=172&sp=0&id=2453]

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policy and practice for global tourism demographic...

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