China-ASEAN Tourism Cooperation Sharing a Rosy Future

Written by Wang Gongqing / Translated by Mo Tingting

China-ASEAN Tourism Cooperation Sharing a Rosy Future

Written by Wang Gongqing / Translated by Mo Tingting

Over 600 years ago, Zheng He, a navigator in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), led the ships fully loaded with silk, porcelain, agricultural technology and many other handcrafts to sail to Southeast Asia. In addition, Tourism and trade, as always, are inseparable.Zheng He’s team also feasted their eyes on fantastic views and appreciated local unique folkways in Southeast Asia.

As the years went by, outbound tourism has become an important part of people’s life and Chinese are still very keen on Southeast Asia. Apart from Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia, the well-known Bali Island of Indonesia and the mystery of the Kingdom of Cambodia are always favored by Chinese. Moreover, along with the establishment of the 2017 ASEAN-China Year of Tourism Cooperation, tourism has led to the thriving development of tourism industry and related industries between China and ASEAN.

ASEAN-China Year of Tourism Cooperation to embark a new journey

Looking back, tourism cooperation between China and ASEAN has embarked a new journey. Leaders from China and ASEAN set the year of 2017 as ASEAN-China Year of Tourism Cooperation at the 19thChina-ASEAN Leaders Meeting in Vientiane, Laos in September 2016, with a view to enhance people-to-people cooperation and exchanges.During the meeting, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang proposed that China and ASEAN should make people-to-people exchanges a new pillar of China-ASEAN relations by taking education and tourism cooperation as priority.Also, Li expressed that China is ready to discuss on the development of tourism cooperation plan with ASEAN,with a goal of reaching 30 million persons between both sides by 2020. Furthermore, the establishment of ASEANChina Year of Tourism Cooperation fully re fl ected the two sides’ high attention for tourism cooperation, pointed out the direction for the future cooperation, and depicted a brand new blueprint between China and ASEAN.

On March 16, 2017, the opening ceremony of 2017 ASEAN-China Year of Tourism Cooperation was held in Manila, the Philippines. And during the year 2017,China and ASEAN will hold a series of tourism activities such as “Beautiful China-Snow Tour” Southeast Asia Joint Promotion, the Greater Mekong Subregion Tourism Working Group Meeting, Mekong Tourism BBS and China-ASEAN Expo Tourism Exhibition. Nowadays,those plans have been put into practice and gained great achievements, becoming the highlights of ASEAN-China Year of Tourism Cooperation.

With efforts made by all parties concerned, China-ASEAN tourism cooperation has been elevated to a higher level.Now, tourism has become an important connotation of China-ASEAN relations, laying a more solid public and social foundation for further China-ASEAN friendly relations and becoming a successful model of tourism diplomacy.

The overheating China-ASEAN tourism cooperation

Tourism serves as a bridge to spread civilization,exchange culture and enhance friendship. Along with the implementation of 2017 ASEAN-China Year of Tourism Cooperation, China and ASEAN countries have continued to deepen and expand their exchanges and cooperation on tourism.

At present, China remained ASEAN’s largest source of tourist. Statistics showed that, among the top 10 outbound destinations for Chinese in 2016, Thailand, Singapore and Indonesia were included, accounting for 30% of Chinese outbound tourism. Therefore, it can be seen that the implementation of 2017 ASEAN-China Year of Tourism Cooperation has greatly enhanced Chinese tourists’willingness to visit ASEAN.

To facilitate personnel exchanges between China and ASEAN, ASEAN countries have simplified the entry formalities for Chinese tourists: Malaysia recently introduced electronic visa and visa-free program to Chinese tourists; Cambodia also granted the multiple entry visa within 3 years for Chinese tourists; Countries such as Laos, Myanmar and Brunei also simplified the procedure of tourist visa application for Chinese; and the Philippines issued visa on arrival for Chinese citizen.

For China’s inbound tourism, ASEAN countries also play a vital part. In 2016, the number of tourists to China from Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines and Myanmar exceeded one million and maintained relatively fast growth. The tourists from Vietnam reached 3.17 million person-times,with year-on-year growth of 46.6%. Every year, nearly half of more than 3 million inbound visitors to Guangxi are from ASEAN countries.

As indicated above, the booming development of two-way tourism is the best illustration for ASEAN-China Year of Tourism Cooperation.

CAEXPO as a better platform for China-ASEAN tourism cooperation

CAEXPO has played a vital role in building a platform for China-ASEAN tourism cooperation. Since its 2nd session, the “Cities of Charm” mechanism has been set up by focusing on unique tourism resources and industrial advantages of each country, which is highly sought after by the participants. Each session, the delicately designed pavilions of “Cities of Charm” were one of the most popular exhibition areas in CAEXPO, with distinctive performances,dazzling images and unique items on display.

Along with the fast development of the Belt and Road, the upcoming 14thCAEXPO themed “Collectively Building the 21stCentury Maritime Silk Road; Tourism Promoting Regional Economic Integration”, a crucial platform for connecting Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21stCentury Maritime Silk Road, would perfectly demonstrate the enhanced China-ASEAN exchanges and cooperation.And the 1stChina-ASEAN Tourism Cooperation Network Conference was held at the 14thCAEXPO, providing a platform of exchange and cooperation for enterprises and organizations in tourism industry.

In 2015, to carry out the initiative themed “Collectively Building the 21stCentury Maritime Silk Road” proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping, China and ASENA took the 25thAnniversary of the Establishment of ASEAN-China Dialogue Relations as an opportunity to hold the CAEXPO Tourism Exhibition, thus further strengthen tourism exchange and cooperation and promote people-to-people exchange.

Since 2015, the annually-held CAEXPO Tourism Exhibition has made remarkable achievements in further promoting China-ASEAN tourism cooperation. Every CAEXPO Tourism Exhibition will set up a collection of shows centering on overseas tourism, domestic tourism,international tourism commodity, Guangxi tourism and tourism consumption according to the theme of China-ASEAN tourism cooperation of that year, pragmatically promoting regional tourism cooperation between ASEAN and China and the world at large. In addition, the 3rdCAEXPO Tourism Exhibition themed “Collectively Writing a New Chapter for Tourism Cooperation Under the Belt and Road” was held in Guilin, Guangxi in October 2017, attracting exhibitors from more than 60 countries and regions, and professionally promoting China-ASEAN tourism cooperation.

Under the in fl uence of the CAEXPO, China-ASEAN tourism cooperation has made dramatic progress. Now there are more than 2,700 flights connecting ASEAN countries with China per week. In the first quarter of 2017, China remained Cambodia’s largest source of tourist. In July 2017, Vietnam received over 400,000 visitors from China, and China continued to be its largest source of tourist.

At the same time, CAEXPO has constantly elevated China-ASEAN tourism exchanges and cooperation to a higher level. To better solve issues related to bilateral cooperation,CAEXPO has specially held a series of forums and activities on bilateral and multilateral tourism cooperation. From“10+3 Tourism Ministers’ Meeting” to bilateral cooperation agreement and to ASEAN-China Year of Tourism Cooperation, tourism cooperation mechanism between ASEAN and China has gradually been perfected, and channels and platforms have been enriched. Through these platforms and channels, China-ASEAN regional economic cooperation and integration has become more and more extensive.

Nowadays, “Singapore-Malaysia-Thailand” has remained the most popular route for Chinese tourists travelling abroad.Along with the ASEAN-China Year of Tourism Cooperation,China-ASEAN tourism cooperation will have a rosy future,leaving us more wonderful experience.

Shanglin Tourism making debuts at the 2017 China-ASEAN Expo Tourism Exhibition