40th ASEAN Tourism Forum opens in Cambodia

The 40th ASEAN Tourism Forum 2022 (ATF 2022) officially opened on January 18 in Preah Sihanouk Province, Cambodia, under the theme “ASEAN – A community of peace and shared future.”

Delegates at the opening ceremony of the 40th ASEAN Tourism Forum 2022 (Photo: SPM)
Delegates at the opening ceremony of the 40th ASEAN Tourism Forum 2022 (Photo: SPM)

The opening ceremony was attended by Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Hun Sen, senior officials of the host country, Tourism Ministers/Deputy Ministers of ASEAN countries, as well as more than 1,000 representatives from the national tourism agencies of ASEAN states and partner countries, international organisations, and press agencies.

The Vietnamese delegation to the ATF 2022 is led by Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Doan Van Viet, accompanied by Director General of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) Nguyen Trung Khanh and leaders of VNAT-run agencies, localities and tourism businesses.

In his opening speech, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen expressed a warm welcome to all national and international delegates and highly appreciated the latter for travelling to attend the forum in the context of COVID-19 pandemic.

This reflects the common commitment to restore the ASEAN tourism, aiming to bring prosperity and growth to the ASEAN people, he underlined.

Cambodian Minister of Tourism Thong Khon said that the important event provided a good opportunity to reopen ASEAN tourism officially while reaffirming Cambodia as a safe tourism destination in the region.

Established in 1981, the ATF is the biggest event held within the framework of ASEAN tourism cooperation. The hosting of the ATF is rotated among the member countries each year.

The Vietnamese delegation to the 40th ASEAN Tourism Forum 2022 (Photo: Vietnam National Administration of Tourism)

Taking place until January 22, AFT 2022 will go along with a series of meetings discussing the recovery of ASEAN tourism in the post pandemic period, including the Meeting of ASEAN National Tourism Organisations (NTOs); the Tourism Ministers Meetings between ASEAN and partner countries (China, the Republic of Korea, Japan, India, and Russia); and the International Travel Expo TRAVEX.

Of which, the International Travel Expo TRAVEX will feature 187 stands, including 61 international stands by 40 companies and 20 media institutions from 27 countries in the region.

According to the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, ASEAN is one of Vietnam’s major sources of tourists.

In 2019, tourist arrivals from ASEAN totalled nearly 2.1 million, mostly from Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, and Cambodia. The figure accounted for about 11.6 percent of Vietnam’s foreign visitors.