- Title: MALAYSIA: ASEAN LEADERS LAUNCH TOURIST CONFERENCE IN KUALA LUMPUR.
- Date: 25th May 2003
- Summary: (W3) KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA (MAY 23, 2003) (REUTERS) 1. LAS/GV/CU: HOTEL NIKKO KUALA LUMPUR; TOURISM MALAYSIA BANNER; BANNER; ASEAN FLAG WITH ASEAN NATIONS FLAGS (4 SHOTS) 0.15 2. GV/MV: MALAYSIAN TOURISM MINISTER ABDUL KADIR SHEIKH FADZIR WALKING INTO MEETING ROOM; DELEGATES AT ASEAN TOURISM CONFERENCE (3 SHOTS) 0.26 3. GV: ABDUL KADIR GIVING OPENING REMARKS 0.30 4. MCU: (SOUNDBITE) (English) MALAYSIAN TOURISM MINISTER ABDUL KADIR SHEIKH FADZIR SAYING "I think the ASEAN tourist is very, very much better than the faraway tourist because ASEAN people are all the same. We love to enjoy, we love to sing, we love to dance, we love to eat and we want to go to as many cities as possible and take pictures so that we can go home and tell, wah look I have gone to ten cities, you see. Others from faraway places, they come and sit on the beach for ten days, read book and sip beer, that's all." 1.01 5. GV/MV/CU: DELEGATES LISTENING TO ABDUL KADIR; DELEGATES APPLAUDING; GONG INSTRUMENT ON STAGE; ABDUL KADIR STRIKING THE GONG TO LAUNCH ASEAN TOURISM CONFERENCE; CAMERA OPERATORS (5 SHOTS) 1.25 6. MV: ABDUL KADIR WITH SENIOR ASEAN TOURISM OFFICIALS 1.29 7. MCU:(SOUNDBITE) (English) ABDUL KADIR SHEIKH FADZIR SAYING "Now you can also slowly getting our travel agents more organised. They can go on to Cambodia, Laos right up to Hanoi. So its not expensive. And we have a lot of budget hotels everywhere within ASEAN. So because of, I think the market for travel within ASEAN, the tourism market is big, huge. I would think about 20, 30, 40 percent of that." 1.58 8. MCU: (SOUNDBITE) (English) ASEAN DEPUTY SECRETARY-GENERAL TRAN DUC MINH SAYING "We focus on, you know, the ASEAN cooperation to deal with this problem because for these two years we have been suffering from the turbulence in the region caused by the terrorism and by SARS and then haze or something like that. But it is due to the close cooperation between Asean members, the ASEAN tourism flow keep going on." 2.29 9. MV: CAMERA OPERATORS 2.32 10. M,CU: (SOUNDBITE) (English) BRUNEI TOURISM DIRECTOR SHEIKH JAMALUDDIN SHEIKH MOHAMED SAYING "So they have come up with the Hotel Pass and the Air Pass. So the Hotel Pass and Air Pass will enable our ASEAN citizens to purchase it and they can go to multi destinations in ASEAN. So we from the ASEAN tourism NTO is going to help them by going through a tactical advertising campaign using CNN and also using the local radio stations in each of the countries of ASEAN." 3.02 11. GV: PRESS CONFERENCE 3.06 12. TV/PAN/GV: DESERTED HOTEL LOBBY, HOTEL EXTERIOR (3 SHOTS) 3.27 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 9th June 2003 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA
- City:
- Country: Malaysia
- Reuters ID: LVADSP22SD760UOCJ29URD25IZ7P
- Story Text: South East Asian nations are proposing to send each
other tourists to rescue their tourism industries battered by
SARS, the Bali bombings and militancy threats.
Member nations of the Association of South East Asian
Nations (ASEAN) started a three-day meeting in the Malaysian
capital of Kuala Lumpur on Friday (May 23, 2003) to discuss tourism
issues.
Malaysian Tourism Minister Abdul Kadir Sheikh Fadzir said
in his opening remarks joint tour promotions, easier
cross-border access and the scrapping of border taxes for
intra-regional travellers could all help replace the dollars
lost from lower long-haul passenger numbers.
"I think the ASEAN tourist is very, very much better than
the faraway tourist because ASEAN people are all the same. We
love to enjoy, we love to sing, we love to dance, we love to
eat and we want to go to as many cities as possible and take
pictures so that we can go home and tell, wah look I have gone
to ten cities, you see. Others from faraway places, they come
and sit on the beach for ten days, read book and sip beer,
that's all," Abdul Kadir said at a news conference later.
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, despite being
concentrated in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore, has
hit travel right across the region, adding to effects from the
Iraq war and last year's bombings on the Indonesian island of
Bali.
Early last month, weeks after the SARS news broke, Abdul
Kadir said occupancy rates for Malaysian hotels were as low 30
percent and airline bookings down 40 percent due to the virus.
The minister said that despite many tourism meetings
within the 10-strong ASEAN local tourist flows languished,
which he blamed on damaging rivalries and bureaucracy.
But he said ASEAN member nations should do more to promote
tourism with the region.
"Now you can also slowly getting our travel agents more
organised. They can go on to Cambodia, Laos right up to Hanoi.
So its not expensive. And we have a lot of budget hotels
everywhere within ASEAN. So because of, I think the market for
travel within ASEAN, the tourism market is big, huge. I would
think about 20, 30, 40 percent of that," the Malaysian
minister said.
The majority of ASEAN's 500 million people live in poor,
rural communities or concentrated in urban sprawls like
Jakarta, Bangkok and Manila.
But most Singaporeans and significant numbers of
Malaysians and Thais in particular do have money for travel.
ASEAN also includes Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos,
Myanmar, the Philippines, and Vietnam.
ASEAN deputy secretary-general Tran Duc Minh maintained
that tourism flows within the region remained at comfortable
levels despite incidents.
"We focus on, you know, the ASEAN cooperation to deal with
this problem because for these two years we have been
suffering from the turbulence in the region caused by the
terrorism and by SARS and then haze or something like that.
But it is due to the close cooperation between ASEAN members,
the ASEAN tourism flow keep going on," Tran said at a news
conference.
Brunei tourism director Sheikh Jamaluddin Sheikh Mohamed
said ASEAN travel agents are setting up a benefits card with
packages to lure more intra-ASEAN travel.
"So they have come up with the Hotel Pass and the Air
Pass. So the Hotel Pass and Air Pass will enable our ASEAN
citizens to purchase it and they can go to multi-destinations
in ASEAN. So we from the ASEAN tourism NTO is going to help
them by going through a tactical advertising campaign using
CNN and also using the local radio stations in each of the
countries of ASEAN," Sheikh Jamaluddin said.
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