The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is looking to revamp its core tourism agreement and update its coverage to include seamless regional travel and potential cooperation on digital transformation.
The review was discussed during the ASEAN Tourism Ministers’ Retreat chaired by Tourism Undersecretary Verna Buensuceso on Tuesday at the Philippine International Convention Center.
“Our policy focus must ensure this instrument directly addresses critical modern imperatives such as digital transformation, sustainable and resilient tourism, and seamless regional connectivity while formally incorporating Timor-Leste into our multilateral framework,” she said in her opening remarks.
The ASEAN Tourism Agreement was signed in 2012 as the bloc’s core framework on improving ASEAN’s tourism services and competitiveness.
Speaking to ASEAN counterparts at the retreat, Buensuceso highlighted the urgent need to further strengthen cooperation among member states amid pressing economic headwinds affecting tourism, including the global energy crisis.
“With over 140 million international arrivals last year, expectations for Southeast Asia have never been higher,” she said.
“We must emerge from today’s sessions with concrete work plans that deliver tangible benefits to local communities, elevate quality tourism metrics, and ensure that ASEAN remains the world’s premier travel hub,” she added.
The retreat, co-chaired by Singapore, builds on the discussions in the recent ASEAN Tourism Forum and the ASEAN Leaders’ Summit in Cebu.
Investing in ASEAN
Prior to the retreat, the Philippines led the ASEAN Tourism Investment Showcase, featuring some of Southeast Asia’s most investment-ready tourism destination projects, including the redevelopment plan for Corregidor Island.
Tourism Secretary Dita Angara-Mathay said the showcase, part of the Philippines’ ASEAN chairship, comes at the right time as the region’s sector seeks to become more responsive to evolving markets.
“No single destination can navigate the future alone. The opportunities before us call for stronger connections between governments and the private sector, between destinations and investors, and between investment and sustainable development,” she said in her message delivered by Tourism Assistant Secretary Gisella Marie Romualdez-Quisumbing.
Southeast Asia in 2025 alone welcomed 147 million international arrivals.
In the same year, the tourism sector contributed USD414 billion or around 4 percent of ASEAN’s GDP (gross domestic product), supporting 46 million jobs across the region.
For ASEAN Deputy Secretary-General Nararya Soeprapto, these figures show that ASEAN already has a strong foundation to facilitate “greater connectivity and multi-destination travel” in the region.
“ASEAN’s ambition is increasingly about quality tourism, visitors staying longer, experiencing more, spending more within economies, traveling to a wider range of destinations, and returning to ASEAN,” he said.
“That requires investment not only in accommodation and attractions but also in the wider ecosystem that makes a destination competitive,” he added.
The Asian Development Bank (ADB), for its part, affirmed its support to the industry under its new USD3 billion tourism investment pipeline announced for ASEAN last January.
“ASEAN has an extraordinary tourism opportunity. Such beautiful countries and cultures to proudly showcase to the world,” ADB Country Director for the Philippines Andrew Jeffries said.
“So, ASEAN needs to capture the benefits from this, and it requires moving from ambition to implementation and from investment concepts to investment execution,” he added.
At present, ASEAN and ADB are working to develop the ASEAN Sustainable and Resilient Tourism Investment Outlook 2030, aimed at directing capital toward high-impact investments in the region.
The outlook is one of the Philippines priority economic deliverables as chair of the bloc this year. (PNA)