Regional Networking: Connectivity Pays

The periodic crises that hits the tourism industry has led to the realisation that joining forces can be an effective counter weapon. Achal Dhruva traces the evolution of regional networking and finds out how India, a late entrant, is slowly picking up the ropes...

The world is rapidly becoming a ‘global village’. Countries in different regions are forging ties for co-operation and mutual benefit in all spheres and the prime example of this phenomenon is the European Union. Regional networking has gained prominence over the last decade and the trend is here to stay, especially in the tourism industry after it was rocked by a series of events starting with 9/11.

Asia and South East Asia were particularly hard-hit with the back-to-back crisis of the Iraq war and the SARS epidemic. The lethal disease bulldozed the tourism industry in Asia in three months and billions of dollars were lost as international arrivals dropped by 80 per cent in the region. If the uncertainty caused by the Iraq war led to the postponement of travel and the delaying of investment plans, the SARS sceptre sounded a death knell by discouraging travelling altogether as an ‘Avoid Asia’ syndrome swept the world.

According to WTO, even countries with no local transmission of SARS (India, Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia, Indonesia and Philippines) have suffered as much from the wave of paranoia as tourism dropped by 40 per cent in some countries. The International Labour Organisation (ILO) statistics reveal that 6.5 million jobs were lost between 2001 and 2002 because of travel alerts and has warned that five million more jobs in the tourism industry are at risk globally.

Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, billed as the tourism giants in South East Asia and having the tourism industry as their major economic driver, suffered a severe setback due to the SARS outbreak. The drastic fall in tourist arrivals and tourism receipts in the past two years has made regional networking the need of the hour for these countries.

A WTO research shows that the series of crises has led to a shift in travel pattern with people making later bookings, many deciding to stay within their own region and a high-degree of price sensitivity. Hence, responding to these changes, National Tourism Organisations (NTOs) and tourism companies are concentrating on boosting domestic and inter-regional travel to revitalise Asian tourism. Regional networking along with the combined efforts of all sectors of travel and tourism has become the need of the hour to revitalise tourism in the region.

Joining Hands

Although individual countries throughout Asia are focusing on tourism promotion drives, post-Sars experts believe regional cooperation holds the key to pull the industry out of the current slump. Taking the cue, the Hong Kong government has tied up with Singapore and Thailand to jointly promote tourist attractions and rebuild their image under the banner ‘Together in Asia’ for the UK market and ‘Asia Now’ for USA.

Tourism Malaysia and Singapore Airlines have joined hands for the first time to introduce a five days/four nights package (inclusive of airfare and accommodation with breakfast) for the Indian market priced at Rs 19,999 per person covering Langkawi and Singapore.

Commenting on the launch of the package P Manoharan, director Tourism Malaysia, said, "This is for the first time that we have joined hands with Singapore Airlines in India."

The Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) has launched a three-month long global consumer communications campaign called ‘Project Phoenix’ to boost tourism in the Asia-Pacific region. The campaign is being funded by NTOs, corporate and industry members. According to Peter de Jong, PATA president and CEO, this reputation management initiative is a fully integrated approach to recovery by working with global media to stimulate consumer interest in Pacific-Asia travel. As part of media cooperation, CNN, Time and Fortune announced that a US$ 1 million global TV and print campaign would be launched in partnership with PATA.

The affected countries, in their desperation to lure short-haul tourists, are offering a slew of attractive packages in the line of ‘buy one get one free’, free air tickets and value add-ons like free admission at tourist attractions etc either jointly or individually. Besides this they are also pumping in billions of dollars for tourism campaigns or by way of sops to revive the beleaguered tourism industry.

Regional networking for tourism has been a high priority on the agenda of the Association of South East Asia Nations (ASEAN) which includes Brunei, Dar es Salaam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam as member countries and China, Japan, Republic of Korea as partners, known as +3. The tourism boom in South East Asia region has been on an upswing since 1990. Predictions at that time for ASEAN tourism was that it was expected to grow by 7.6 per cent per annum and 4.9 per cent per annum up to year 2000 and 2001-2005.

The major impetus towards achieving the predicted figures has to a great extent been due to the ‘Plan of Action for ASEAN Cooperation’ set in place in November 1998.

As per the document, ASEAN cooperation in tourism will be intensified in areas such as investment policy, tourism development planning, human resources development, environmental and cultural preservation to achieve continued and long-term viability of the ASEAN tourism industry. The main strategies and actions in support of the objectives are:

1 Promote ASEAN as a single destination, offering thematic tour packages/attractions. This will allow visitors to explore the region and focus on specific areas of interest.

2 Promote and market selected ASEAN countries in twin-or-multi tour packages so that visitors can enjoy the multi-faceted attractions of the ASEAN region.

3 Hold ASEAN-wide events during a designated period of the year. These events will run concurrently so that visitors can hop from one ASEAN destination to another and experience a full spectrum of exciting events featuring a particular theme like ASEAN cuisine, art etc.

4 Intensify tourism networking and contacts in target niches or source markets and international tourism and travel trade fairs, through roadshows, publication of ASEAN market guides and travel brochures etc.

5 Strengthen institutional support through responsive marketing policies/strategies of the ASEAN NTOs, the ASEAN Promotional Chapters for Tourism (APCTs) and active involvement of the ASEAN Communication Team for Tourism (ACTT) in conducting public relations and other activities to promote ASEAN travel.

6 Establishing an ASEAN Tourism Fund for joint promotion and marketing activities.

Facilitating seamless intra-ASEAN travel is an important strategy for tourism to prosper. The facilities the tourist demands must be in place i.e. airports, hotels, surface transport and other life-support services like water, telecommunications and power. Accessibility is a key requirement for the success of tourism and it is imperative to connect every tourist destination in ASEAN into the overall integrated transport and communication network. A tourism boom is usually accompanied by a rapid growth in air travel and is also greatly influenced by aviation policy.

Actions suggested for this were:

1 Streamlining inspection and process and formalities at national borders/frontiers. Expanding the ‘ASEAN Lane’ to other international gateways, wherever feasible. Standard customs, immigration and quarantine (CIQ) systems and procedures. Explore usage of smart passports or smart cards for automatic border clearance and expanding visa waivers.

2 To support the continuing liberalisation reforms of air and sea transport and telecommunications sectors. Air and sea transport are vital parts of tourism development, to spur long haul travel and create new tourism destinations.

3 Expand the ASEAN circle and promotional fares.

4 Improve infrastructure for cruise traffic so as to enhance cruise tourism in the region.

5 To support the proposed Trans-ASEAN networks in road, rail, waterways and telecommunications.

6 Rationalisation or elimination of barriers impeding tourism growth, for example tax impositions etc.

More recently the second meeting of the ASEAN tourism ministers held on January 24, 2003 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia in conjunction with the ASEAN Tourism Forum (ATF) 2003 reiterated the pledge towards regional networking with the theme of ATF, ‘ASEAN Unity: Ensuring a Brighter Future’.

Indian Perspective

The Indian tourism connection with the South East Asian region has been strengthened in the past five to six years. Some of the countries like Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Hong Kong have become highly popular destinations in the Indian outbound tourist segment and the tourist numbers from India to these countries took a quantum jump in the latter half of the ‘90s.

Aggressive marketing and publicity campaigns by the respective tourism boards, a plethora of attractive tourism products and packages at lucrative prices enabled these countries to divert a large chunk of the outbound traffic from India to their shores. Even though they may be lagging behind in numbers game compared to traditional favourites of the Indian outbound market, USA and Europe, these countries are slowly and surely bridging the gap.

Malaysia, the latest entrant to jump on ‘wooing the Indians’ bandwagon has made the greatest impact. Malaysia Tourism Promotion Board (MTPB) staged its entry in New Delhi in the new millennium. The 9/11 attacks, which to a certain extent worked to the advantage of South East Asian destinations including Malaysia as most tourists preferred to fly shorter routes with lesser hassle.

Strategic planning has been the forte of Malaysia, which was evident from the tourism budget. Their allocations were well utilised for marketing campaigns, for fam trips for agents and media alike and promotions. Malaysia targeted the key audience – the travel trade (tour operators). It also targeted the family segment. The result was Indian tourist arrivals in Malaysia jumped from 46,537 in 1999 to 143,513 in 2001.

However, it was the annual travel agents Federation of India (TAFI) convention held in Malaysia three years ago which played a significant part in helping the Asian counterpart take off from the Indian shores. The Indian travel trade event showcased Malaysia to people who mattered the most – the Indian travel fraternity. By hosting the annual TAAI Convention this year, Malaysia is looking to further leverage this advantage. On its part TAAI is seeking to align itself with the ASEAN nations for a bigger share of the region’s ‘international tourists arrivals pie’ and larger numbers from the ASEAN nations.

Jehangir Katgara, president TAAI, said, "TAAI will gain in a number of ways from the convention. It will give the Indian travel and tourism industry a great leverage in the international market, especially the Far East belt. India would be looked at with greater seriousness. It would encourage two-way traffic which is healthy for business. TAAI will also gain further international recognition and will be considered as the nodal body for Indian travel and tourism industry."

He further added, "The ASEAN Travel Mart will have representatives from all over the world including Australia, New Zealand, Europe, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Oman, Dubai etc apart from the host of others from the Far East sector. Hence it will prove to be an ideal platform to network, connect and build business for the future, which should not be wasted."

Pradeep Madhavji, co-chairman, South Asian Association for Regional Tourism (SAARC), chairman elect, Indian Ocean Tourism Organisation Inc (IOTO) and ex president TAAI; said that the TAAI convention in Malaysia was a sort of progression of the bond of friendship signed by Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents (MATTA) and TAAI two years ago. "The TAAI convention will serve as a platform for better understanding with ASEAN countries and showcase India to those countries. The market in ASEAN countries has a huge potential for tourist inflow to India as the country is a short-haul destination. We could gain from tourism within ASEAN countries by participating in fairs organised by ASEAN countries, starting with Malaysia. India should go to select ASEAN countries immediately after the convention and project India, the tourism product to countries like Philippines, Hong Kong, Thailand, Indonesia," says Madhavji.

However, on the whole Madhavji felt that while business-wise travel agents per say stand to gain much more than Indian tourism from the convention, it will fetch a lot more exposure for India. According to him, Malaysia stands to gain the most. As far as regional networking is concerned he felt that India’s efforts of tourism promotion till date have been stand-alone. He said, "We still have not caught on the concept of joint tourism promotion, either internationally of domestically. Joint tourism, besides giving more mileage, is also cost effective. For example it makes more sense for Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) and Goa Tourism Development Corporation (GTDC) to join hands and promote the beaches in Maharashtra like Ganpatipule, Tarkarli and those in Goa collectively to international and domestic tourists."

He further added, "Likewise, geographically it is logical and more important for India to get into regional networking with SAARC countries along with ASEAN. There is a huge benefit for promoting traffic within the seven member countries of SAARC i.e. Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Maldives. According to the last published figures published in 2000-01 the total inflow of tourist traffic of the seven countries put together was 4.7 million out of which India's share was 2.4 million. I found that 1.2 million were generated from within the SAARC countries, 25 per cent of the tourist traffic. This 1.2 million can very easily be doubled with more aggressive efforts on the regional networking front."

Madhavji says since India shares closer ties with SAARC countries on various fronts it is more advantageous to promote regional tourism within these countries. It could be a joint promotion in the form of a single stall of SAARC countries in international trade fairs like International Tourism Bourse, World Travel Market etc. He felt such joint promotion would do much for cottage industries, arts and crafts.

He admitted that though efforts have been on for a few years on the regional networking front among SAARC countries, no concrete strategies have been chalked out. Madhavji believes that regional networking within SAARC countries should be divided into three stages:

Stage One: This could include setting up separate immigration counters at airports for SAARC country passport holders. The SAARC visa will ensure freer travel from the rest of the world to the entire region.

Stage Two: This stage should see select countries of SAARC opting for joint promotion. For example southern India could tie up with Sri Lanka and Maldives for joint promotion. Similarly northern India could tie up with Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh.

Stage Three: According to Madhavji, this stage ideally should witness the coming together of SAARC and ASEAN countries for promotion of tourism. "This could have been achieved at the forthcoming TAAI convention held in Malaysia if it had seen the participation of the SAARC countries. A wonderful platform for regional networking could have been created for the entire region. An ideal culmination of regional networking would be one currency for SAARC countries," said Madhavji.

Citing the example of IOTO, an organisation comprising of countries washed by Indian Ocean ranging from Australia to South Africa with nothing else in common between them, Madhavji said that efforts of networking were being made to spread information on issues related to tourism like crisis management, environment management etc. "Marketing is just one aspect of regional networking, there are a number of other avenues," he said.

Regarding the barriers for the growth of regional networking Madhavji claimed that the biggest obstacle was the paucity of airline seats. According to an industry observer, the problem persists as most Asian airlines are giving priority to routes connecting to USA and Europe. The other barrier in his opinion is airport facilitation, how to make the procedures hassle free. Madhavji suggested setting up of separate counters of ASEAN countries and upgrading facilities in airports, especially in India. He also felt that many more ASEAN countries should adopt the system of Visa on Arrival, successfully employed by countries like Sri Lanka and Maldives.

Conclusion

WTO projections of tourism growth by 2020 across the world is 4.2 per cent as against that of 6.2 per cent pegged for South Asia. The aggressive pursuit of regional networking will go a long way in making this prediction come true. The active steps initiated by the Asian nations to enhance cooperation and make travel within the region hassle free against the backdrop of SARS is certainly the path in the right direction. It is a win-win situation for all. Tourism will not only prosper but the countries will also be in a stronger position to face crisis situations.

(With inputs from Anindita Chattopadhyay)