| By Rosli Abidin
Yahya
Government tourism agencies in
all Asean countries are now strengthening their websites on
tourist destinations, in preparation for its interconnection
with the websites of other countries.
According to a source, the plan
is to interconnect the websites of all 10 member-states of Asean,
which would strengthen the whole region in promoting their
various tourism industries.
The websites will include
updated information on the efforts made by various Asean
governments in ensuring that their country is safe for tourists.
The media is also expected to
play a role in providing accurate reports on the real peace and
order situation in their respective countries.
During a recent meeting of 10
Asean tourism ministers in South Korea, the importance of
websites in enticing more foreign tourists into the country was
upheld.
The ministers were scheduled to
hold talks last January 27 with counterparts from China, Japan
and South Korea.
Asean have been complaining
about the ill-effects of travel advisories issued by several
Western countries, which prevented their respective
nationalities from visiting Asean countries.
In a recent conference of the
Asia and Pacific Airways Association in Cebu, members showed
that their respective tourism and airline industries have been
recovering since the September 11 attacks.
It is not known, however, if
the bombing in Bali, Indonesia, which killed about 200, has
destroyed the gains achieved by the region.
Asean comprises Brunei
Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar,
Thailand, the Philippines, Singapore and Vietnam. Many of them
have been cultivating a thriving tourism industry.
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