Endorsing a common set of priorities in the development of cruise tourism in the region ASEAN tourism leaders have adopted the ASEAN Declaration on Cruise Tourism.
The member states agreed to work towards greater capacity building and exchange of industry best practices as a part of the declaration and partnering in the cruise industry to raise travel trade capabilities and understanding port infrastructure and technical requirements to raise competencies.
Royal Caribbean International’s Mariner of the Seas at Marina Bay Cruise Centre in Singapore also agreed to accelerate cruise tourism development, with a focus on effective destination management considers issues of environment and social sustainability.
Applying fair business practices like transparency in business transactions; and ensuring the consistent application of national laws, regulations, policies and guidelines to minimise confusion for cruise ships calling at different ports within each country were among the other goals.
At the recently concluded ATF in Chiang Mai, led by Singapore, the trade bloc’s lead coordinator for cruise development the declaration was enclosed.
Sim Ann, Singapore’s senior minister of state, Ministry of Trade and Industry said that this builds on the previous work like the inaugural ATF Cruise Dialogue last year and the launch of the Cruise Southeast Asia brand in 2016.
Marking the first major economic deliverable undertaken by Singapore since it is assumed that the ASEAN chairmanship for 2018 will deepen regional connectivity and position ASEAN as a region for seamless economic activity.
Tags: ASEAN, Chiang Mai, Sim Ann
