BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, Jan. 15 (Xinhua) -- The ongoing ASEAN Tourism Forum (ATF) Travel Exchange (TRAVEX) held in Brunei provides a platform to showcase ASEAN destination products and services, and promote inbound and intra travel within the region, coupled with structured appointments between ASEAN sellers and buyers.
According to ATF on Wednesday, ATF is a cooperative regional effort to promote the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) region as one tourist destination. Meanwhile, the ATF TRAVEX is a platform for the selling and buying of regional and individual tourism products, which aims to provide convenient business-matching opportunities for suppliers of tourism products and services in ASEAN and for international buyers to meet and foster business relationships.
Some 161 buyers from 43 countries or territories, including China, Australia, Bulgaria, Canada, France, Germany, the United States are attending the ATF Travex on Jan. 14-16.
The largest number of buyers are from China (11 percent), followed by the Philippines (7 percent), Singapore (6 percent) and India (six percent).
"Visit Malaysia 2020 will be featured at ATF TRAVEX 2020. We are eager to invite all industry players to unite and welcome 30 million tourists to Malaysia through the focus on sustainable tourism, arts and culture," said Noran Bin Ujang, director of International Promotion Division (Southeast Asia) of Tourism Malaysia.
The event also promoted Brunei as a tourist attraction as the Sultanate offers diverse tourism packages such as visits to its well-known mosques; Water Village and many more. Complimentary pre-show tours of Brunei on Jan. 13-14 provided delegates an insight into Brunei's abode of peace.
"As we look towards the next decade of a more prosperous and relevant ASEAN, member states must continue to collectively innovate and seek meaningful initiatives to increase tourism growth while retaining the heritage, tradition and identity that make us unique for future generations," said Haji Ali, Brunei's Minister of Primary Resources and Tourism.
A single purchase
