ASEAN Tourism, news, travel and events » Feature

ASEAN in drive to boost regional disaster relief

ASEAN Tourism — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 05:44:21 +0000

HANOI — Asia’s largest security forum is expected this week to adopt a plan boosting civil and military co-ordination in response to natural disasters — a rising threat across the region.

The 27-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Regional Forum meets in Hanoi on Friday, where a priority is improved cooperation in disaster relief by 2020.

The forum gathers major powers including China and the United States but is driven by the 10-member ASEAN bloc, which has been criticised in the past for a lacklustre response to Southeast Asian natural disasters.

An initiative to improve relief was welcomed by the Asia-Pacific disaster chief of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), Michael Annear.

Foreign Ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) hold hands as they pose for a group photo at the plenary session of their 43rd annual meeting in Hanoi July 20, 2010.

But “these agreements need to then be taken to the country level and incorporated into national processes” to be effective, he added.

The forum’s statement aimed to “harmonise regional cooperation” over relief and strengthen civil-military coordination — for example by holding regular exercises — to enhance disaster responses over the next decade.

It also sets out plans to develop tools such as a “model legal arrangement for foreign military assistance”.

But such pledges could be deflecting attention from more complicated issues such as tensions over North Korea’s nuclear programme, according to Ian Storey, a fellow of the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore.

He told AFP the forum “is moving toward more cooperation on less sensitive issues like humanitarian cooperation and disaster relief… because the other issues are just too difficult to deal with”.

The region is prone to earthquakes, storms and volcanic eruptions and is expected to be hard-hit by rising sea levels and extreme weather caused by climate change.

Experts have said environmental damage, shoddy urban planning, corruption and other man-made problems are magnifying the human cost of natural disasters almost every time they strike in Asia.

The latest calamity, Typhoon Conson, has left a death toll of 76 in the Philippines, two in China and one in Vietnam over the past week, with dozens more still missing and feared dead.

At a security conference last month in Singapore, top regional officials called for a more coordinated response to relief operations across Asia-Pacific nations. Malaysian Defence Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi called for the establishment of centres focusing on humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.

His New Zealand counterpart, Wayne Mapp, agreed the region had “to move beyond talking about to actually doing something and having centres of excellence, probably regional based, would probably help”.

In May 2008, ASEAN was faulted for failing to pressure military-ruled Myanmar, a member of the bloc, to allow in international aid after Cyclone Nargis devastated the country’s south, leaving 138,000 dead or missing.

A group of officials from the UN and ASEAN were eventually allowed to coordinate aid with Myanmar’s government, which the bloc hailed as a successful example of its capability and unity.

Source : AFP

free Visa entry for Taiwanese tourists

Tourism News — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 15:47:07 +0000

Administrator Armand C. Arreza of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) is urging the adoption of non-trade measures to make the Subic-Kaohsiung-Clark economic corridor work.

To realize this, Arreza said the privilege of visa-free entry should be expanded to include tourists. The privilege is currently reserved for Taiwanese manufacturing investors.

Arreza said while the issue of preferential treatment for Taiwanese investments is still being tackled, the Philippines can turn to tourism to open the corridor.

To realize this, Arreza said the privilege of visa-free entry should be expanded to include tourists. The privilege is currently reserved for Taiwanese manufacturing investors.”We need to be more aggressive in offering incentives to Taiwanese,” said Arreza.

The Philippines and Taiwan have yet to agree on the rules of origin, which define the local content requirement of goods made by Taiwanese locators in Subic and Clark.

Taiwan wants a lower 25 percent local content while the Philippines is asking for 40 percent. The current formula also limits sales to the local market to 30 percent of the entire production. Products beyond the hurdle are slapped with the the regular tariffs.” While that is still an issue, we can pursue non-trade as an income source,” Arreza sid.Taiwan, he said, has about a million tourists but the Philippines is attracting onoy 100,000. -

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January survey of 2,700 from China Tourism Academy showed that 92.7 percent have travel plans at beginning in March

Tourism News — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 14:54:24 +0000

The tourism industry is expected to continue booming this year, as recent surveys found a great majority of urban residents have travel plans this year and more than half are willing to spend more on trips.A January survey of 2,700 urban residents conducted by the China Tourism Academy showed that 92.7 percent have travel plans for the next three months beginning in March.Most desired closer destinations on the mainland, with 21.7 percent saying they wanted to visit Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan in the next three months. Another 4.3 percent look to foreign destinations, topped by Bali in Indonesia, the Maldives and Singapore.Some 70 percent said they are traveling for leisure and want to relieve the pressure from work.”The survey result is what we expected,” said Li Zhongguang, associate professor with the academy who led the survey.National Tourism Administration of China (CNTA) officials said earlier this month that the tourism industry is expected to maintain stable growth this year, after the 11.3-percent growth last year. In 2009, the country’s tourism industry brought in revenue of 1.29 trillion yuan ($188.8 billion).The CNTA forecast a 12-percent growth for the tourism industry this year, with total tourism revenue expected to exceed 1.44 trillion yuan.

It is anticipated that domestic tourists will make 2.15 billion trips to mainland destinations, up 13 percent year-on-year. They will also make 51 million trips to foreign destinations as well as Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, up 7 percent year-on-year.”People are willing to travel as a result of China’s economic growth and the government’s policy support,” Li said.People also responded that they are willing to spend more on travel than last year.A separate survey of 3,000 netizens conducted by Ctrip.com, a major online travel service, showed that more than half plan to increase their travel budget this year.According to the one-month survey in January, 59 percent of those surveyed said they would spend more on travel this year, while 35 percent do not plan to change their budget. Only 6 percent said they would slash their travel budget.

A quarter of those surveyed said they would spend more than 10,000 yuan on travel throughout the year. About 30 percent expect to spend between 5,000 and 10,000 yuan, 40 percent to spend between 1,000 and 5,000 yuan, and only 6 percent plan to spend less than 1,000 yuan.”The GDP growth of 8.7 percent last year and the stable growth in urban residents’ disposable income have together fueled people’s willingness to spend more on travel,” said Tang Yibo, director of the holiday department of Ctrip.com.In fact, the briskness of the tourism market has already appeared in the outbound market during this Spring Festival holiday.More than 1,000 Chinese tourists arrived in New York in batches since Wednesday, forming the largest tour group of Chinese ever to visit the United States, according to tourism experts. They will explore the Big Apple and the other parts of the eastern United States in four groups, before finally gathering in New York on Feb 16 for a big celebration of the Chinese New Year.

“The outbound market this year is especially prosperous. Most tour groups were filled up earlier than usual. Alhough the price is generally up 30 percent over the same period last year, the number of tourists has risen by 20 percent,” said Dong Ming, general manager of the outbound department with Shanghai Jin Jiang Tours Co Ltd.Liu Xiangyang, manager with Guangdong China Travel Service Co Ltd, also said the outbound travel market this Spring Festival has been strong.”As prices of tour packages to Hainan province and northeast China soared lately, many tourists found the tours to Southeast Asia are more worthwhile. This helped boost the outbound tours,” Liu said.Many others have plans for the rest of the year. Beijinger Sang Jie said her family will make a trip together this year, though the destination has yet to be chosen.”As my son is now old enough to travel with us, organizing a family trip will be a good idea, which can bind us tighter. It is a new lifestyle,” she said.

Japanese tourists was interested with Honolulu festival

Tourism News — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 14:33:08 +0000

Honolulu Festival to be held next 12-14 march in Honolulu, Hawaii, predicted 4700 would be able to attract the most visitors came from Japan. Visitors from Japan, as one might expect the organizing parties, will provide revenue of almost U.S. $ 10million. Festival to be held at four locations namely Hawaii Convention Center, Ala Moana Center, Waikiki Beach Walk and Waikiki Shopping Plaza and ended with a parade through Waikiki is an annual event that has entered the year to 16.At this year’s festival with the theme of this Pacific Harmony will show off the culture, art and music performed by people from countries in the Pacific region such as Japan, China, Taiwan, South Korea, Philippines, Australia, Canada, Alaska and Hawaii of course.Pacific Harmony capture the theme can not be separated from the basic purpose of the organizer of the Honolulu Festival Foundation, which was to create community harmony and togetherness Hawaaii and Asia Pacific through culture.

Egypt with the greatest archaeological and historical assets

Tourism News — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 13:49:15 +0000

Egypt with the greatest archaeological and historical assets, continue to invite the attention of travelers and local to work directly through the evidence that civilization. Starting from the scattered imprerium Persian, Roman, Islamic and modern today can be found in the country this Pharaoh. If you’re an archaeologist, scientist, poet, medical or spiritual master, then Egypt is one solution to optimize the specialization is your field. However, if you are a traveler or tourist, Kinanah country was also very fitting to make choices for your adventure ria. Starting from the pyramid, Sping, Pharaoh mummy, the tomb of the prophets and scholars, old mosques and various accessories of thousands of other civilizations will be more complete your trip to the Delta’s Nill. That’s probably an interesting bit of prologue by the author started writing this. Series cars this sentence, will try to bring the ratio of moment you fly into a city located at the north end of Tower Thousand countries. The town was named Alexandria, or the Egyptians often call it Iskadariah.

Area on the edge of the beach was first built by Alexnder The great (Iskandar Zulkarnain) of the Roman Empire in 332 BC, and now sempai region inhabited by approximately 3,341,000 people over. Architect is credited with renovating the old city is Denokrates from Greece. Also the top grandeur, Alexandria made the capital of Egypt for 1000 years. Since then, the city continues to experience during its golden ages, no doubt if a lot of assets ancient culture there. Besides the beauty of the coast of Alexandria and the density of activities, you can also visit the Montazah Garden. In the park area is 115 yards, visitors can also see the curvature the north coast of the African continent’s most amazing. Not only exotica beach, the park is surrounded by a wall that stretched from the east, west, south and north shore, you can also stop and chat in the palace named Salamlek and Haramlek. The building is a relic of King Fuad who finished in the year 1932 AD wind in Montazah Park was often a magnet for foreign travelers and natives each time stopped by the city of Alexandria.

Besides its natural attractions, you can also browsing about mountains of books in the hallways of the largest libraries in the world who stood in the central city. Referring to a sheet of history, the library of Alexandria was first built by Ptolemi I in 323 BC. Because kecintaian the military commander of science, he continued to collect the books of discipline. Because of his tenacity was also dubbed the soter time. Finally get to Ptolemi III approximately 700,000 books and manuscripts stored in the library. However, the journey of scientific assets that only a rise in the year 48 BC, the attack launched Julius Caesar to the city of Alexandria. History records no more than 400,000 books sold devoured. The incident became a very injuries among the lovers of science at that time. Not long ago after the incident, Caesar had finally apologized to the Egyptian government. To make amends, he also presented some 200,000 books to the Queen of Egypt, Cleopatra. It was said that since the romance and falling in love between Cleopatra and Caesar began.

Since suppression is, the Library had become the primary icon for the world’s scientists, began to fade, and neglected no longer. In short In 1990, at the initiative of Government of Egypt and UNESCO intend to return the student location. It was said at the time, Suzane Mubarak, wife of the president to be a presenter in various countries in Europe.Since October 2002 the Government of Egypt to reopen the library in the world’s oldest public. Now the library of Alexandria had kept millions of books from various disciplines. The room is also equipped with 500 computers that can access all the books digitally and also capacity to accommodate around 1,700 people. After a satisfying taste in the library reading it, your journey will also complete with a stop to Qait Bay. Citadel Qait Bay is a small fortress jutting into the sea, and founded on the ruins of the Pharos lighthouse. At that time, this lighthouse has a 125 meters high and 300 underground rooms reserved for the workers. But now, all that remains of this lighthouse can only look at the foundations of the castle Qait Bay. Exactly who spearheaded the building of al-Ashraf Saif al-Din Qait Bay in the year 1479 AD is located in the north of the library of Alexandria. Not only mundane objects, you also tour the seren with mosque and tomb of the prophet Daniel As. So did Mosque of al-Abbas al-Mursi who had four domes towered into the sky, and now has become the highest in the city funnel Alexandria. If you have arrived in Egypt with 50-60 pounds of Egypt, you can explore the grandeur and watched the city of Alexandria.

Portugal Never Lose the Exotic

Tourism News — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 13:38:00 +0000

Not only the countries in Asia that deserve praise exotic. Small country located in the western Europe, Portugal, was no less radiate magical power that can tickle the curiosity in the hearts of many people.Travel to Portugal usual package of the tour to Spain, since the location of the two adjoining. Even if pulled back into the past, they are sworn enemies. Nation equally explorer, who tried to find riches at the end of another world. Until last year the Treaty of Tordesillas in 1493 to make them share power by pulling an imaginary line from pole to pole. Spain took the western part of the border and Portugal to the east.Before Portugal became one of the largest imperialist rulers of the world by mastering an area 23 times larger than their own country, he was none other than a small country helpless. Waddled up against the occupation of other nations.

Noted the Romans, Spain, to the Moors who occupied Portugal for five centuries of history carved these republics. Heritage trail of the Romans and the Moors were still visible in some corner of Portugal Among the Evora, the old city was included in UNESCO World Heritage Site. The town is located about 130 km from Lisbon, the capital of Portugal, it kept a lot of historical monuments. One of them Roman Temple of Evora or dikerap called Temple of Diana, who comes from the 1st century BC and is now the icon of Evora.

While the legacy of the Moors, among others, can be seen from the Palace of the Counts of Basto, which is a Moorish castle and residence of the family dynasty Afonsine. Mentioned architectural style of Gothic, Moorish, and RenaissanceTotal, there are about 4,000 historic buildings can be found in Evora, from the court, field, street corners in downtown narrow a view of history and cultural richness of the various periods. No wonder even got predicate Evora city museum. So, why did you not try to enjoy exotic at Portugal?

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INDONESIA MUST BE MORE PRODUCTIVE, COMPETITIVE: ECONOMIST

ASEAN Tourism — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 12:59:30 +0000

Indonesia must not open its domestic market widely but enhance productivity and competitiveness in the face of the ASEAN Free Trade Area in 2010, an

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Nanning welcomes free trade zone

ASEAN Tourism — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 11:59:28 +0000

Nanning, the capital of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, will launch multiple efforts to welcome the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area (CAFTA) next

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Ill discipline

ASEAN Tourism — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 10:59:33 +0000

But ASEAN does seem to suffer quite badly as these recent examples show…

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Điểm báo ngày 22/12/2009

ASEAN Tourism — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 10:59:27 +0000

Khai trương website phục vụ Hội nghị Quốc phòng và An ninh ASEAN 2010. Công nghệ đồ hoạ – định hướng hấp dẫn…

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ASEAN Tourism, news, travel and events » Feature

ASEAN in drive to boost regional disaster relief

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