PHOTO: The tourism ministers join hands even as their countries plan a single aviation market. (courtesy ASEAN Tourism Forum)

“And they shall beat their swords into ploughshares,” said the prophet Isaiah and so they have in Southeast Asia where the old military alliance of the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) morphed into the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) which then spawned the ASEAN Tourism Association (ASEANTA) a travel branch.

Thus in two generations, SEATO went from military alliance to tourism association, from sword to ploughshare.

The political and tourism wings of ASEAN are holding their meetings consecutively from Jan. 16-23 and they’re both watershed meetings for different reasons.

The political meeting is being held in Pagan, Myanmar (Burma) as the tourism wing holds its meeting in Borneo.

On the political side, several member states (Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam and the Philippines), are facing territorial confrontations with the People’s Republic of China over islands in the South China Sea and on the travel side, the ASEANTA ministers are preparing for the coming of the of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) and the ASEAN Single Air Market (ASAM).

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations or ASEAN is comprised of 10 member states including Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

ASEANTA is meeting in Kuching, Sarawak in the Borneo Convention Center. ASEAN is expecting about 1,600 delegates to this the 33rd ATF including tourism ministers, journalists, and the roughly 500 buyers and sellers who will attend the ATF’s travel market, known as the Travex from Jan. 21-23.

The long term travel significance of this year’s ASEANTA meeting is being driven by the coming of the AEC and the subsequent ASAM both scheduled for implementation in 2015. If it can overcome some very formidable obstacles, ASAM will have a significant impact on travel in the ASEAN region.

When it takes effect, ASAM is supposed to supersede all of the existing bilateral and multi-lateral agreements between ASEAN member states that are not consistent with its dictates. Indonesia and the Philippines have yet to agree to certain ASAM provisions.

ASAM is a major component in creating the AEC. The ASEAN nations have come a long way over the years in creating a Southeast Asian brand imaging that transcends, the brands of the individual member nations without smothering the identities of those same nations.

Altogether the ASEAN countries attract about 98 million international visitors, which represents a 10 percent growth over the region's 2012 arrival figures.

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