Brunei to host ASEAN Tourism Forum 2010

THE ASEAN Tourism Forum (ATF) will be held here in January, with the focus on "green tourism", reflecting the growing global call to ensure that all tourism should be culturally, socially and environmentally sensitive.

To be held at the BRIDEX Centre on January 21 to 28, ATF 2010 organiser Brunei Tourism Board expects to attract around 1,600 delegates, although the figure could increase to as many as 2,000 based on estimates from previous shows and positive feedback received from a recent trade show in Bangkok, according to a report by business tourism magazine MICEBTN, citing Faten Salwati Muhmud Sharani, a MICE officer for the Brunei Tourism Board.

Brunei last hosted the ATF in 2001. ATF is a cooperative regional effort to promote the ASEAN region as one tourist destination. This year's ATF is themed "ASEAN, the heart of green".

"While there is considerable scope for expanding green tourism in ASEAN, the development of this trend would depend on our capacity to grow this market sustainably, and the ability to develop a quality standard that would match expectations of an increasingly sophisticated travel market that is both ecologically and socially conscious," read a statement from the ATF 2010 committee.

"The challenge is to create higher economic benefit through a more creative kind of tourism, while minimising the negative impact of increasing visitors on the surrounding environment and indigenous communities. While there is a growing collective conscience in this regard, much still needs to be done to reconcile national and regional tourism priorities and their respective green agendas.

"Each nation's level of commitment and exposure to green tourism varies, and the diffusion of such philosophy has been quite slow. The transition from theoretical principles to operational frameworks has also been sluggish," the statement read.

ATF 2010 organisers are hoping to use the global economic slowdown as a window of opportunity for ASEAN to reassess its tourism strengths and direction, both on a national and regional level. The Brunei Times