ASEAN to allow free movement of tourism pros
17:39 04/03/2009

      ASEAN tourism professionals will soon be able to freely seek and undertake employment in any of the member countries.

 

 

An Agreement on Mutual Recognition Arrangements (MRA) that would allow this was among the topics discussed at the ASEAN National Tourism Organizations Meeting in Hanoi on Thursday.

 

The MRA is slated to be signed at the 2008 ASEAN Tourism Forum in Thailand.

The meeting also looked at various ways to promote tourism, investment and further develop human resources within the regional bloc.

Tourism authorities attending the meeting were keen on bolstering coordination between the transportation and tourism sectors among member nations.

The Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) reported that Vietnam has been welcoming increasing numbers of ASEAN tourists in recent years. From just 167,000 in 1996 the numbers had risen three-fold to 573,800 in 2006.

However, this number still did not match existing potential, and the poorly developed traffic system in the country was a major limiting factor, VNAT officials added.

The meeting sought to boost cooperation with Japan, China, and Republic of Korea (RoK) in tourism promotion, development and training.

Officials attending the meeting said ASEAN-China and ASEAN-RoK tourism centers will soon be set up on the lines of the ASEAN-Japan Center established more than three decades ago to promote trade, investment and tourism.

Source: VNA, Compiled by An Dien

Source : thanhniennews.com