Socialist Republic of Vietnam

Tourism ministers from the Asia-Pacific economies gathered in central Vietnam Monday to try to formulate a joint strategy to bolster the region's travel industry.

Joining the 4th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Tourism Ministerial Meeting (TMM-4) in the historic town of Hoi An in Quang Nam province, top officials from the 21 APEC members will discuss how to ensure solid tourism growth among the region.

Sasithara Pichaichanarong, head of the Thai delegation, said through the recent incidents that affected his country’s tourist activities, Thailand proposed that APEC leaders hold discussions to set up a frame plan for enhancing cooperation and developing travel industry among the member economies.

Representatives of China, Japan and the Republic of Korea stressed the Asia-Pacific region had not only seen high tourism growth in recent years but also faced many challenges like tsunami, earthquake, and bird flu that somewhat affected the bloc’s tourism.

The APEC member economies should jointly endeavor to seek effective solutions to overcome these matters because tourism was an important field that created jobs, helped boost economic growth as well as cultural exchange and integration, they said.

Gu Zhaoxi, deputy head of the China National Tourism Administration said the APEC members should join hands to strengthen cooperation and expand exchanges on tourism based on mutual and multilateral benefits.

Head of the Japanese delegation, Ken Harura, stressed that the APEC member economies should promote and support exchange meetings between the youths and twin cities as they were an important strategy of the region.

Such exchange meetings would offer the APEC economies more chances to introduce to each other original features of the culture, habits and lifestyle of each nation, thereby establishing international understanding and cementing friendship relations with other countries in the world, Haruta said.

Hoi An Statement

The tourism ministers will enter the official meeting Tuesday, October 17, to sign the Hoi An Statement, a historical document that concretizes the APEC Charter on Tourism.

The Hoi An statement – named after the ancient Vietnamese town where the meeting was held – focuses on intensifying tourism cooperation among the group members.

TMM is a mechanism of meeting for leaders in charge of tourism in APEC member economies with major tasks to put forth policies for tourism development in the region.

The first TMM was held in the Republic of Korea in 2000, and since then it has been held every two years.

Source: Thanh Nien News