Being a single tourist destination, member countries of ASEAN need to open skies, build up single-visa regime and improve infrastructure, Singapore's Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong said on Jan. 30.

At the 26th ASEAN Tourism Forum (ATF), which is being held in Singapore from Jan. 26 to Feb. 3, the Senior Minister said that ASEAN should also engage dialogue partners like China, Japan, the Republic of Korea (RoK), India and Russia to reinforce tourism cooperation, as well as deal with transnational issues such as terrorism, avian flu and tsunami.
The nine-day forum, carrying the theme "Embracing ASEAN's Past and Together Shaping the Region's Future", is being attended by more than 1,600 participants who include ASEAN tourism ministers, heads of national tourism organisations and industry players from Asia and other regions.
During the forum, tourism ministers are urging the member countries to facilitate travel within the region, through liberalising the air services and issuing more multi-entry visas as well as called immigration authorities to develop visa facilitation for non-ASEAN travelers traveling within ASEAN.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) include Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

(Source: VNA)