East Asian destinations should stop treating neighboring markets as rivals and instead work together to attract more travelers to the region, Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) CEO Noor Ahmad Hamid said Thursday, Sept. 3.
Hamid proposed “coopetition,” a combination of competition and cooperation, as a strategy for members of the East Asia Inter-Regional Tourism Federation (EATOF) to expand tourism while making destinations across the region more connected and complementary.
“The important question is what if destinations stopped competing for the same visitors and started growing the market together?” Hamid said during the Governors’ Conference on the second day of the 19th EATOF General Assembly at Mactan Expo Cebu.
He said tourism destinations traditionally compete for the same source markets, airline seats, travel budgets, meetings and events, media exposure and international investors.
But travelers do not necessarily view destinations according to the political and administrative boundaries used by governments, he said.
Visitors from Europe, North America and other major source markets may not be familiar with individual tourism organizations or groupings such as EATOF. Instead, they can see East Asia as one broad region offering different cultures, destinations and experiences.
Hamid said destinations can use that perception to their advantage by developing complementary tourism offerings and encouraging visitors to explore multiple destinations.
“Instead of hunting over a big slice of the same cake, what if we work together to make the cake bigger?” he said.
He identified connectivity as one of the areas where regional cooperation could have an immediate impact on tourism growth.
Hamid said destinations could work together on visa facilitation, smoother airport arrivals and visitor mobility to make travel between neighboring destinations easier.
He cited a conversation with a Sarawak minister who told him that traveling from Cebu to Kuching could take nearly 20 hours, despite the destinations being within the same broader region.
The example, Hamid said, underscored the need to improve connections within Asia-Pacific, where travelers can sometimes reach destinations in Europe more easily than neighboring Asian destinations.
Better connectivity would allow destinations to promote multi-country or multi-destination journeys instead of competing for travelers who have limited time and budgets, he said.
Hamid also said tourism organizations spend substantial amounts competing for visitors, airline capacity, events, media attention and exposure at international trade shows.
Some of those resources, he said, could instead be directed toward improving the overall visitor experience and strengthening tourism systems.
The potential market remains substantial. Hamid cited PATA’s forecast of 761.2 million international visitor arrivals in the Asia-Pacific region and noted that this represents only part of the region’s approximately 4.8 billion people.
He said the scale of the region’s population presents significant opportunities for intra-regional travel.
“The question is no longer simply who is stronger. It is who is smarter, more connected and more adaptable,” Hamid said.
Hamid also discussed recent tourism performance across the region, citing PATA’s latest tourism performance report released Wednesday.
Mongolia posted the highest year-on-year recovery in Northeast Asia at 22 percent during the first and second quarters of the year, while Vietnam recorded the strongest recovery in Southeast Asia at 18.2 percent, he said.
Northeast Asia was the only Asia-Pacific subregion in Asia to record growth, at about 6 percent, while Southeast Asia, South Asia and West Asia remained in negative territory.
Geopolitical tensions, wars and climate change contributed to weaker tourism performance in parts of the region, Hamid said.
He said destinations also need to become more competitive by using data and market insights, strengthening tourism value chains, improving connectivity and digital visibility, and adopting technology and artificial intelligence.
The shift toward cooperation comes as Cebu hosts the three-day EATOF General Assembly, which opened Wednesday and brought together government and tourism representatives from East Asian regions.
EATOF, established in 2000, currently has 12 members: Cebu Province, Gangwon State in South Korea, Tottori Prefecture in Japan, Jilin Province in China, Sarawak State in Malaysia, Chiang Mai Province in Thailand, Yogyakarta Special Region in Indonesia, Töv Province in Mongolia, Primorsky Krai in Russia, Quang Ninh Province in Vietnam, Luang Prabang Province in Laos and Siem Reap Province in Cambodia.
During the opening day, Cebu Gov. Pamela Baricuatro called for stronger cooperation in tourism and cultural exchanges, sports tourism, connectivity, investment, sustainable destination development and people-to-people exchanges.
Baricuatro also cited climate change, environmental pressures, changing traveler preferences, connectivity and rapid development as challenges that destinations need to address collectively.
Vice Gov. Glenn Soco described Cebu as a gateway for East Asia, citing its airport, ports and people as links to other destinations. He said cooperation could also extend beyond tourism to business and other areas affecting employment and local communities.
The assembly’s opening program featured Tribu Lumad Basakanon, which presented Cebu’s Sinulog traditions to delegates.
The first day also saw the launch of the EATOF Climate Resilient Global Tourism Report, which Hamid referenced during his presentation.
He urged EATOF members to use the report as a basis for concrete partnerships and actions, rather than allowing it to remain only as a reference document.
PATA, he said, can support such cooperation through its network of governments, nongovernment organizations, private-sector partners, online travel agencies and business-to-business travel buyers.
Photo courtesy of Pam Baricuatro - The People’s Governor / FB Page
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