Impact Assessment of the Visit ASEAN Campaign

Impact Assessment of the Visit ASEAN Campaign REPSF Project No. 06/002 Author: Dr Noel Scott UniQuest Pty Limited The University of Queensland

Final Report May 2007

The views expressed in this report are those of the author, and not necessarily those of the ASEAN Secretariat and/or the Australian Government.

Impact Assessment of the Visit ASEAN Campaign

ABSTRACT This report provides an assessment of the impact of the Visit ASEAN Campaign. The Visit ASEAN Campaign involves a series of marketing components undertaken over several years. The assessment of the impact of the Visit ASEAN Campaign is based on a three level hierarchy of effects model. Data on which to make the assessment has been derived from analysis of prior reports as well as primary data collection (n=1000) in four international airline terminals in Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, and Lao PDR. The results indicate that the various Visit ASEAN Campaign marketing components have been effective but the overall campaign has been hampered by a lack of funding. A number of suggestions have been made to improve future Visit ASEAN Campaign initiatives. These include the definition of campaign objectives, increases in staff resources, increases in marketing funds, as well as suggestions for improving interaction with the tourism trade.

REPSF Project 06/002: Final Report

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CONTENTS ABSTRACT.............................................................................................................................. i CONTENTS............................................................................................................................ iii LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................................... v LIST OF FIGURES................................................................................................................. vi LIST OF BOXES ................................................................................................................... vii ABBREVIATIONS................................................................................................................ viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...................................................................................................... ix EXECUTIVE SUMMARY........................................................................................................ xi I.

INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................... 1 A. Organisation, history and components of the Visit ASEAN Campaign ............... 1 B. Visit ASEAN Campaign ............................................................................................. 2 C. Organisation and management of tourism and the Visit ASEAN Campaign ....... 3 D. Funding for the Visit ASEAN Campaign.................................................................. 3

II. AIM OF THIS STUDY........................................................................................................ 5 III. EVALUATION OF THE VISIT ASEAN CAMPAIGN ......................................................... 7 A. Introduction................................................................................................................ 7 B. Cooperative ASEAN marketing ................................................................................ 7 C. Hierarchy of effects model........................................................................................ 8 D. Creating a brand ...................................................................................................... 10 E. Evaluation method................................................................................................... 12 F. Component evaluation results ............................................................................... 12 G. Collateral production............................................................................................... 13 H. Logo and tag line ..................................................................................................... 13 I. Theme song.............................................................................................................. 14 J. Sponsorship............................................................................................................. 14 K. ASEAN and ASEANTA websites ............................................................................ 14 L. PR support ............................................................................................................... 15 M. Aviation magazine advertising ............................................................................... 15 N. Integration with NTO marketing programs............................................................ 15 O. ASEAN Hip Hop/Air pass ........................................................................................ 15 P. Main media advertising ........................................................................................... 17 Q. Intermediate Outcome Evaluation of Visit ASEAN Campaign............................. 17 R. Summary of Visit ASEAN Campaign outcomes ................................................... 18 IV. ASEAN TRAVEL PATTERNS ........................................................................................ 19 A. Method ...................................................................................................................... 19 B. Results...................................................................................................................... 19 C. Discussion................................................................................................................ 24 V. SUGGESTED IMPROVEMENTS.................................................................................... 25 A. Improving marketing effectiveness ....................................................................... 25 B. Method ...................................................................................................................... 25 C. Common area in trade shows................................................................................. 25 D. Overseas coordination of marketing ..................................................................... 26 REPSF Project 06/002: Final Report

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E. F. G. H. I.

ASEAN airlines tourism promotion........................................................................ 27 Joint familiarisation trips ........................................................................................ 27 Promotion for youth travellers ............................................................................... 28 Conclusions ............................................................................................................. 28 Dialogue Partner Suggestions ............................................................................... 28

VI. MARKETING RECOMMENDATIONS ............................................................................ 29 A. Strategic aims and objectives ................................................................................ 29 B. Increased trade communication............................................................................. 29 C. Joint promotion and marketing activities without cash ...................................... 29 D. Funding mechanisms for joint promotion and marketing activities................... 30 E. Shortcomings of existing formula ......................................................................... 30 F. Development and training....................................................................................... 32 G. ASEAN Secretariat tourism staffing ...................................................................... 32 VII. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS............................................................... 33 REFERENCES ...................................................................................................................... 35 APPENDIXES ....................................................................................................................... 36 A. Appendix 1: Airport survey..................................................................................... 37 A. Appendix 2: Verbatim responses – what does ASEAN mean to you? ............... 39 B. Appendix 3: Effectiveness of websites ................................................................ 46 C. Appendix 4: About the author and the organisation............................................ 50

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LIST OF TABLES 1 Components, proposed measures and performance outcome

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2 ASEAN and other tourism region promoted awareness levels

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3 Extra and intra-ASEAN visitor arrivals by country of destination 1995-2005

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4 Common countries visited within ASEAN – all travellers

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5 Average number of countries visited on trip by origin

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6 ASEAN countries visited, would consider and main destination on trip

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7 Agreement with statements about ASEAN by non-ASEAN respondents and ASEAN respondents

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8 Use of low-cost airlines

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9 Source of information for trip

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10 UNWTO Tourism Expenditure Estimate 2005

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LIST OF FIGURES 1 Three levels of marketing evaluation

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2 Heirarchical model of marketing effects

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3 The system schematic

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LIST OF BOXES 1 Example – Great Ocean Road

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2 Example – Tourism Australia

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3 Example – Linking umbrella and cooperative marketing

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4 Funding for Brand Australia

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ABBREVIATIONS

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ADB

Asian Development Bank

AHHP

ASEAN Hip Hop Pass

APCT

ASEAN Promotional Chapter for Tourism

ASEAN

Association of South East Asian Nations

ASEC

ASEAN Secretariat

ASEANTA

ASEAN Tourism Association

ATF

ASEAN Tourism Forum

CITM

China International Travel Mart

COCI

(ASEAN) Committee on Culture and Information

FAM

Familiarisaton trips

GDP

Gross Domestic Product

ITB

International Tourism Exchange, Berlin

JATA

Japan Association of Travel Agents

NTO

National Tourism Organisation

PR

Public Relations

REPSF

Regional Economic Policy Support Facility

TAT

Thailand Authority of Tourism

TVC

Television Commercials

UNDP

United Nations Development Program

UNWTO

United Nations World Tourism Organisation

USD

United States Dollar

VAC

Visit ASEAN Campaign

VAP

Vientiane Action Program

vap!

Visit ASEAN Pass

WTM

World Travel Mart



ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The study team wishes to acknowledge the continued valuable guidance and assistance provided by its ASEC partner, Mr Eddy Krismeidi, and all Member Country representatives who have contributed to this research.


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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This report provides an assessment of the impact of the Visit ASEAN Campaign. In providing this assessment, the report firstly provides a framework for assessment of marketing programs and reviews the travel patterns of inter and intra-ASEAN travellers within the ASEAN region. It provides a number of specific recommendations for improvements in the Visit ASEAN Campaign and recommendations concerning a number of new initiatives. The assessment of the impact of the Visit ASEAN Campaign at the component level, for tasks such as the development of a logo, video material, a map, and other initiatives, have been successful. Other components which require the cooperation of independent stakeholders such as airlines have been less universally successful. At the intermediate level, brand awareness for ASEAN as a holiday destination is low. Sales of the Visit ASEAN Pass also appear low although detailed figures are not available. When consumers think of ASEAN they are more likely to think of it as a political grouping or economic region than as a holiday destination. The reasons for the success at the component level and a lack of progress at the outcome level may be traced to a number of underlying issues, such as: 1. A lack of sufficient and guaranteed funding to enable a branding campaign to take place. 2. A lack of marketing strategy and plan based on consumer and trade research and endorsed by relevant government stakeholders and the industry. A number of new initiatives may be put in place to address these issues and these are listed below. 1. The strategic tourism objectives of the visit ASEAN campaign revisited and confirmed. 2. The funding and organisational structures required to meet these objectives are then provided. The Brand Australia mechanism may be a useful model whereby firstly, a centralised organisation is established with enhanced resources to provide coordination and secondly, funding is received both from Member Countries and from industry. 3. This report has provided a method for measuring the effectiveness of the Visit ASEAN Campaign and where possible has provided actual performance results. This method is based on the hierarchy of effects model. It is strongly recommended that such a model and measures are adopted in future. 4. An ASEAN branding research program is conducted to further define the ASEAN brand and its values. Such a program would involve both external research in ASEAN's major markets, as well as discussions with stakeholders. 5. The resources available in the ASEAN Secretariat are enhanced with a marketing professional employed to support the development of the ASEAN brand research program. 6. Processes are developed to examine the organisational structure for intra-ASEAN coordination of tourism and this involves developing stronger links between ASEAN and tourism operators. Communication with key stakeholders in ASEAN tourism should be improved. 7. A process is developed whereby enhanced cash or non-cash funding for the Visit ASEAN Campaign (defined as a branding program) is developed. Given the developing importance of low-cost airlines within the ASEAN region, it is strongly recommended that such organisations (and indeed tourism organisations within ASEAN) should be included as potential members. 8. A training program is established to upgrade the skills of NTO and tourism industry marketers. REPSF Project 06/002: Final Report

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Six initiatives suggested by tourism ministers have been examined. These are: 1. Setting up of a common ASEAN area in major international events such as International Tourism Exchange (ITB, Berlin), WTM, China International Travel Mart (CITM), and JATA 2. Establishment of ASEAN tourism chapters 3. Promotion of ASEAN tourism through the airline facilities, e.g. in-flight magazines 4. Establishment of ASEAN Tourism Centres as dedicated organisations that will promote ASEAN tourism in major international markets similar to the ASEAN-Japan Centre 5. Joint familiarisation trip for outbound tour operators of major international markets 6. Promotion of youth travel There was agreement amongst stakeholders that these initiatives were valuable but their implementation requires provisional resources to enable them to happen.

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I. INTRODUCTION A. ORGANISATION, HISTORY AND COMPONENTS OF THE VISIT ASEAN CAMPAIGN The Association of South East Asian Nations or ASEAN was established on 8 August 1967 in Bangkok by the five original Member Countries, namely, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand. Brunei Darussalam joined on 8 January 1984, Viet Nam on 28 July 1995, Lao PDR and Myanmar on 23 July 1997, and Cambodia on 30 April 1999 (ASEAN Secretariat, 2006). The ASEAN Declaration states that the aims and purposes of the Association are: (1) to accelerate economic growth, social progress and cultural development in the region and (2) to promote regional peace and stability through abiding respect for justice and the rule of law in the relationship among countries in the region and adherence to the principles of the United Nations Charter (ASEAN Secretariat, 2006). The ASEAN Economic Community is the end-goal of economic integration measures as outlined in the ASEAN Vision 2020. Its goal is to create a stable, prosperous and highly competitive ASEAN economic region in which there is a free flow of goods, services, investment and a freer flow of capital, equitable economic development and reduced poverty and socio-economic disparities in year 2020 (ASEAN Secretariat, 2006). The ASEAN Economic Community establishes ASEAN as a single market and production base, turning the diversity that characterises the region into opportunities for business complementation and making ASEAN a more dynamic and stronger segment of the global supply chain. ASEAN’s strategy consists of the integration of ASEAN and enhancing ASEAN’s economic competitiveness (ASEAN Secretariat, 2006). At the 12th ASEAN Summit in Cebu, Philippines in January 2007, ASEAN leaders agreed to the establishment of an ASEAN Community by 2015 (ASEAN Secretariat, 2007). In moving towards the ASEAN Economic Community, ASEAN has agreed to accelerate regional integration in the following priority sectors by 2010: air travel, agro-based products, automotives, e-commerce, electronics, fisheries, healthcare, rubber-based products, textiles and apparels, tourism, wood-based products and logistics (ASEAN Secretariat, 2006). A roadmap for the tourism sector has been developed. As defined in the Vientiane Action Program (VAP) 2004-2010, the overall goal of the roadmap is to fully integrate the tourism sector across all ASEAN Member Countries towards a single market production base by 2010. The declarations of the Vientiane Action Program are: 1. Undertake measures to expedite the implementation of the ASEAN Tourism Agreement, particularly the visa exemption initiative (in ASEAN in accordance with the Leaders’ decision at the Bali Summit in October 2003); 2. Advance integration of tourism in accordance with the ASEAN Concord II by 2010 through development of ASEAN Tourism Vision and a roadmap to achieve the target of integration; 3. Assist new members towards integrated ASEAN tourism through provision of technical assistance in areas of capacity building, human resources development, promotion of investment and protection of environment and cultural heritage; 4. Ensure coherence of policies and initiatives related to tourism development and adopt appropriate measures to prevent all threats to tourism; 5. Strengthen the partnership with the private sector, media, other countries, and international organisations;


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6. Work closely with the ASEAN Secretariat, the ASEAN NTOs and the private tourism associations and groups such as ASEANTA, FATA and AHRA to ensure that that all the above decisions are implemented with efficiency and urgency; 7. Request the ASEAN Secretariat to be the main coordinator for the implementation of tourism cooperation programs and initiatives and strengthen cooperation with the private sector. The agreements made in the Vientiane Action Program are: 1. Adopt the Implementation Plan for the ASEAN Tourism Agreement. 2. Soft launch the third-phase of Visit ASEAN Campaign (VAC) to further promote intraASEAN travel. 3. Instruct ASEAN NTOs, in cooperation with the ASEAN Secretariat and the private sector, to implement this Declaration. One important component of the ongoing integration of tourism in the ASEAN countries is the Visit ASEAN Campaign. B. VISIT ASEAN CAMPAIGN The Visit ASEAN Campaign (VAC) developed over a number of phases (PADECO Co. Ltd. of Japan, 2006). In 1999 the Visit ASEAN Campaign was considered to be a sustainable and ongoing program. The first phase was launched in 2001 as an “Awareness Year” for the VAC to build the brand among the global travel trade and the private sector. It involved four key marketing and promotional elements: VAC collaterals, public relations, advertising, and travel trade activities. The activities for the first phase targeted the travel trade and covered the production of collaterals such as a generic brochure, a press kit folder; production of theme song; VAC website (www.asean-tourism.com); ASEAN TVC; PR support at World Travel Mart (WTM) in London in November 2001; two day workshop on ASEAN and Korean Tourism for Korean and ASEAN travel agents on 31 May - 3 June 2001; VAC workshop on 27-30 September 2001 in Osaka, Japan; and the launching of VAC during the Japan Association of Travel Agents (JATA) Travel Trade held on December 2001 in Tokyo, Japan. The second phase, undertaken throughout 2002, expanded the brand-building activities to include specific promotional and communications activities aimed at consumers in target markets like Japan. The VAC logo and tag line have been incorporated as a sub-brand into the collateral and marketing promotional material of the ASEAN National Tourism Organisations (NTOs). Promotion activities covered in this phase were ASEAN Consumer Shows in Member Countries' international travel fairs such as Indonesia (Tourism Indonesia Mart & Expo, TIME), Malaysia (Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents Fair, MATTA), Philippines (PPTE), Singapore (National Association of Travel Agents Singapore Fair, NATAS), etc; the launching of ASEAN Air and Hotel Pass; joint media and tour operator familiarization; Visit ASEAN Website; reprint of ASEAN map; production of VAC posters; advertising in travel trade magazines TTG & Travelweekly East, TIME, and Newsweek. The VAC third phase focused on intra-ASEAN tourism and included tourism investment promotion and advertising ASEAN as a single destination. Throughout the campaign, several marketing and promotional approaches were undertaken, such as CNN international media campaign; travel trade campaign; the launching of ASEAN Hip Hop Pass (AHHP) nationally (Indonesia, Singapore and Philippines); the promotion of AHHP in five ASEAN Member Countries (Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand) through different marketing channels such as national TV stations, newspaper and radio; and SMS contest. Currently, the VAC is in its fourth phase promoting Visit ASEAN Pass (vap!) prepared by ASEANTA. Several promotional activities will be conducted through CNN, travel trade and consumer magazines. 2



C. ORGANISATION AND MANAGEMENT OF TOURISM AND THE VISIT ASEAN CAMPAIGN The top level of organization for tourism is the ASEAN Tourism Ministers, followed by a meeting of Senior Officials. These groups meet once or twice a year. There are also six task forces: 1. ASEAN Tourism Marketing chaired by a different country each two years. The current chair is the Philippines. This working group is responsible for the VAC. 2. Tourism Manpower Development 3. Tourism Investment 4. ASEAN Tourism Standards 5. Crisis Communications 6. Cruise Tourism. Support for tourism initiatives and working groups is provided by the Officers of the Tourism Unit of the Bureau for Economic Integration and Finance of the ASEAN Secretariat. In particular, the Special Officer provides support for the ASEAN Tourism Marketing Task Force and therefore the VAC. The staff resources available in the ASEAN Secretariat for support of ASEAN tourism cooperation are limited, consisting of one Special Officer and one support staff. D. FUNDING FOR THE VISIT ASEAN CAMPAIGN Funding for agreed marketing initiatives pertaining to the VAC is shared equally by the 10 members of ASEAN. In addition, dialogue partners such as the UNDP are also involved in funding and CNN has provided sponsorship for media exposure. In addition, specific initiatives may receive support. For example a number of booths were provided for ASEAN member NTOs at the China International Travel Market (CITM). A recent report has indicated that “[i]mplementation of the [tourism] roadmap is constrained by funding” (PADECO Co. Ltd. of Japan, 2006 52). This chapter has provided an introduction to ASEAN tourism cooperation and the history, operation and management of the VAC. The next chapter discusses the aim and scope of the project.


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II. AIM OF THIS STUDY The aim of this impact assessment is to examine the effectiveness of the Visit ASEAN Campaign (VAC) in order to assist the relevant ASEAN bodies in their efforts to increase the flow of international tourist arrivals and promote intra-regional travel. In preparing this impact assessment and recommendations the important contribution that the tourism sector can make towards social economic development (as measured by poverty reduction), conservation of natural and cultural heritage resources and opportunities to address the rights of women and children has been taken into account. In order to achieve this aim a number of specific objectives, listed below, were addressed. 1. An evaluation of the effectiveness of the VAC at the program level and with respect to specific packages promoted as well as the role of VAC in national tourism promotion and marketing activities. 2. Analysis of the travel patterns and preferences of intra-ASEAN travellers and their awareness of ASEAN destinations. 3. Devise specific suggestions to improve the VAC including recommended criteria for successful new packages and funding mechanism for joint promotion and marketing activities. 4. Put forward recommendation on ASEAN joint tourism promotion and marketing and its activities including the proposed strategies stated by tourism ministers and possible mechanisms such as the establishment of ASEAN Tourism Centres, ASEAN airlines tourism promotion, common ASEAN area in major international events, joint familiarisation trip and the promotion of youth travellers. 5. Establish possible collaboration of VAC with dialogue partners in promoting tourism.


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III.

EVALUATION OF THE VISIT ASEAN CAMPAIGN

A. INTRODUCTION This section begins by introducing the justification for cooperative ASEAN marketing. It then discusses the approach used to evaluate the effectiveness of the VAC at the program level, with respect to specific packages promoted and the role of VAC in national tourism promotion and marketing activities. This evaluation is based on a hierarchy of effects model that is examined below. B. COOPERATIVE ASEAN MARKETING There are a number of reasons for establishing cooperative ASEAN destination marketing. Firstly, travellers have been found to consider that there are some similarities between the countries of ASEAN. As will be discussed below, ASEAN Member Countries were found to be similar in research conducted as part of this study. ASEAN was seen to be unique, exotic, having lots of history and culture, and friendly and welcoming. Because ASEAN Member Countries are perceived by travellers to share some similar attributes, it makes sense to undertake promotion of these common attributes to attract people to the area as a whole. In studies around the world, image commonality has been found to be affected by geographical and psychological distance. The closer people live to a particular destination the more they tend to be aware its characteristics. People living closer will generally have a better idea of the layout and geographical features within a destination than those further away. Of course, actual visitation to a destination will mean that the visitor has a much better idea of the detail of a destination and what it offers. Another example of the "image" commonality that the ASEAN region has is provided by consumer response to the Avian flu crisis whereby travel to many of the countries of ASEAN was affected despite them not being directly concerned. Similar consumer "spillover" effects may be seen in the reaction to a number of recent media stories. Thus one justification for shared promotion is that there may be some common misrepresentations about the region that require addressing. In addition there are different patterns of trips taken by travellers. Some may be described as mono destination. In these, the traveller may leave their home and travel directly (say by air) to their destination, remaining there for their entire holiday, and then returning directly home. Alternatively, the traveller may take a multi-destination trip, visiting a number of different destinations while away from home. In general, the further away a person lives from a destination the more they will visit a number of destinations on their trip. Both image commonality and pattern of trips depends upon the origin of visitors. There might be more potential for joint "mass marketing" of ASEAN in South America where people are unfamiliar with the nature of South East Asia than areas close by, and because people travelling from South America to ASEAN are more likely to visit a number of countries on their trip. For nearer countries such as Australia, while first-time visitors may wish to see two or three countries, on subsequent trips it is likely that they will spend their time in one destination. For intra-ASEAN travel multi-destination trips may be less common for the mass market, but there may be specific markets more likely to undertake this. This pattern is also found in the transportation routes used by travellers. For example, people travelling from Australia or the USA to Bali might be more likely to travel on a package tour or airline direct. Whereas people travelling from South America (where awareness of ASEAN is low) might be more likely to arrive at a hub airport from which they could travel to a number of surrounding countries as part of their total trip.


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In such situations where either for commonality of image or because of the nature of multi-destination travel patterns, there is an argument for cooperative marketing including umbrella branding. This argument is reinforced if funding for a "cut through" campaign is available only through joint funding. The same arguments apply for particular segments of the market. For example, backpackers who are more likely to travel to multiple ASEAN Member Countries on their trip may provide a target market for cooperative marketing. Another example might be the development of new products such as multi-country touring by cruise ship. So in summary, the combination of multi-destination trips, image commonality (whether positive or negative) or product niche market commonality suggest that some cooperative promotion would match consumer needs. In addition, the lack of unlimited amounts of marketing dollars makes the idea of working together to effect “cut through” in promotional expenditure attractive. Box 1 Example - Great Ocean Road The Great Ocean Road is located near Melbourne in Victoria and extends along the coastline West of Melbourne for approximately 300 km. It is attractive to "drive tourists" who will travel along the Great Ocean Road on a short break of a few days or possibly on more extended travel. The Great Ocean Road crosses three local government areas. These three local governments work together to promote the region. They contribute funds to the Great Ocean Road Regional Tourism Association. Their reason is that the same visitor will spend money in each of the three shires. By promoting the road and region, they will attract more visitors and therefore will receive their funds back through taxes etc.

C. HIERARCHY OF EFFECTS MODEL Evaluation of tourism marketing effectiveness is a complex task and the overall approach used here is based on a three level hierarchy of effects model (see Figure 1). These three levels are the program component level, the intermediate campaign output level and the final output level. Figure 1 Three levels of marketing evaluation Component

Direct efficiency

Link

benchmark

Intermediate

Final output

Campaign outputs

Collateral

Cost

>>>>

Website

Number of hits

>>>>

Brand recognition

Increased

TV advertising

Cost per TARP

>>>>

Brand recall

Visitor

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Media advertising

Cost per TARP

>>>>

Trade shows

Trade awareness

>>>?

Trade support

Passes

Sales

>>>>

Sales

PR

Cost

>>>>

Government support

numbers, nights and expenditure

At the program component level a number of interdependent activities are undertaken such as development of advertising creative, collateral material, attending consumer shows, developing websites, etc. Each of these components is a separate activity but they are jointly designed to communicate to a target market (potential customers or travel intermediaries such as the travel trade agents) a consistent message. Each of these components can be evaluated in terms of efficiency using benchmarks established to allow their cost or some other critical characteristic to be compared to other similar activities. Thus it may be that a specific component such as printing of posters can be evaluated based on the cost per poster through comparison with benchmark industry costs or against the average poster printing costs of the 10 NTOs of the ASEAN countries. These individual components work jointly to create outcomes at the intermediate level (intermediate between the marketer’s efforts and the traveller taking a decision to travel). These intermediate outcomes include promotional outcomes such as brand attitude and brand awareness, sales of the Visit ASEAN Passes (and potentially other measures). These intermediate outcomes are created from the combined effect of many components (i.e. TV advertising, posters, etc). Finally, there are final outputs, actual travel and visitor expenditure (as measured by visitor statistics). Such final travel is due to many effects such as marketing stimuli as well as economic and social factors that are beyond the influence of the ASEAN tourism marketing initiatives. By relating these three levels of marketing effects we can develop a hierarchical model of advertising effects as shown in Figure 2. Figure 2 Hierarchical model of marketing effects


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D. CREATING A BRAND Marketing is one of the central tasks needed to attract tourists to tourist regions such as ASEAN. Regional marketing is normally coordinated by an organisation representing tourism industry stakeholders in the region. There are a number of components that may be undertaken in a regional marketing program. These may typically include representation of the region at trade shows, development of collateral, web portals, development of mass media cooperative marketing programs and indeed brand campaigns. Creation of a brand is a complex marketing task. While some equate the development of a brand with the creation of a logo and tag line, it is much more than this. Tourism destination brands can be a reflection of the people and culture of a particular destination; the things that make them unique, and the things that therefore cannot be duplicated by competitors. For example, in developing Brand Australia, Tourism Australia and its partners identified a number of unique and defining values that Australians share and are shown in Box 2 below. There is usually a minimum level of marketing expenditure needed to create an intermediate marketing outcome such as brand attitude and awareness. It is generally agreed that to establish a brand in a mass consumer marketplace will cost around US$5 million per year or more and may take a number of years. While creativity in marketing can help create a brand – significant amounts of money are also required.

Box 2 Example - Tourism Australia Tourism Australia is the peak tourism organisation in Australia. Tourism Australia is the Australian Federal (national) Government statutory authority responsible for international and domestic tourism marketing as well as the delivery of market insights. Tourism Australia’s task is to demonstrate for the world how great a place Australia is to visit. To do this they distil the ‘truth’ of what Australia means. They are also involved in the promotion of events such as the Sydney Olympics and Rugby World Cup. Tourism Australia is a global marketing organisation with a research focus and spends around 10% of its $100 million budget on research. In 1995, Tourism Australia developed a branding strategy to promotion of Australia with the “Brand Australia” initiative directed primarily at the tourism sector. Today they are talking to organisations such as Austrade, the Wine Export Council, Arts Council and the Australian Broadcasting Commission to further develop Brand Australia.

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Values of Brand Australia

Source: (Tourism Australia, 2004)

Destination branding is usually conducted through an umbrella brand campaign which seeks to target particular market segments with the persuasive and emotive reasons to visit the destination. Such umbrella brand campaigns are then linked to specific initiatives by individual operators or groups of operators. The destination brand component of the campaign "sells" the destination while the operator component "sells" individual attractions or hotels or other amenities. Box 3 Example - Linking umbrella and cooperative marketing There are numerous ways in which such umbrella brand campaigns can integrate with the marketing of individual operators. An example is given below. In this campaign (for Brisbane in Queensland, Australia) the advertising logo "where else but Queensland" has been tied in to the advertisement for Brisbane, using the slogan "where else but Brisbane". In the second illustration below, some of the creative material for individual companies is shown where there are links to the overall destination campaign. In the example given below, there were financial incentives for operators to participate in the cooperative marketing program. In Australia there is a cascade of related images from national to state to regional promotion. It may be possible in some way to align the marketing of smaller countries and larger countries together.


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Linked collateral material

E. EVALUATION METHOD This data obtained to examine the effectiveness of the Visit ASEAN Campaign was collected from a number of sources including discussions with the ASEAN Secretariat officers, Member Country representatives and travel agents, examination of records and minutes of meetings of the VAC Working Group, as well as collection of ASEAN brand awareness and preference data from a survey of travellers in four airports in the ASEAN region. Details of this survey are provided in Appendix 1. The second part of this first objective was to examine the role of VAC in national tourism promotion and marketing activities. This required information and analysis of the use of the VAC for each of the 10 ASEAN countries. This information was obtained through an emailed questionnaire to all Member Country representatives. In the discussion below, measures for evaluation of the various marketing components were chosen based on a number of principles. The first principle was that the evaluation of marketing components should be an ongoing process. This means that the measures should be easy and cheap to implement and measure. There is no point having an evaluation measure from a marketing component that costs more to determine than the cost of the component. The second principle is that the measures should be as direct and relevant as possible. The measures below are not considered "set in stone" and changes to them to more accurately reflect marketing effectiveness may be useful. F. COMPONENT EVALUATION RESULTS The various components of the Visit ASEAN Campaign are listed below along with a proposed measure and the performance outcome.

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Table 1 Components, proposed measures and performance outcome Component

Metric

Performance

Collateral production (such Trade and consumer as posters, generic response brochure) Cost per item

Positive

The logo and tag line

Consumer response

Unknown

Consumer awareness

12% of survey respondents

Use in marketing material of NTOs

Intermittent use by NTOs on collateral material

Theme song

Amount of usage

Unknown

Sponsorship

Value of sponsorship (US$) per year

Approximately US$100,000 per year

Websites

Number of hits per month

Unknown

Consumer evaluation of function and content

Can be improved

Trade/target market awareness

Unknown

PR Support

Sponsorship received

Unknown

Can be improved

Aviation magazine exposure

Number of pages per month

Information not currently available

NTO marketing integration

Reports from NTOs

Unknown

ASEAN air/hotel/tour pass

Number of passes sold per month/year

Recent data not currently available

Advertising

Expenditure

Low

Cooperative marketing funds received

Low

G. COLLATERAL PRODUCTION During the early stages of the Visit ASEAN Campaign a number of brochures, maps and other collateral useful for trade marketing were produced. These generally appear to be of a high quality and positive comments were received from trade representatives interviewed. Collateral material is a supporting element of marketing programs and the effectiveness measures suggested are based on feedback from the trade and also cost per unit produced. Feedback from the trade should be determined prior to production based on "mock ups " of all pre-production drafts. It is strongly suggested that in future, should ASEAN revise its brand, all collateral should be seen to reflect this brand. H. LOGO AND TAG LINE ASEAN has a tourism logo with the tagline ASEAN, Perfect 10. The consumer attitude to this logo and tagline is not known. In developing tourism taglines and logos, it is important REPSF Project 06/002: Final Report

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that the consumer is clearly aware of the geographical location of the destination. It may be that ASEAN, Perfect 10 does not clearly perform this function and the message it communicates may be usefully examined in market research. Consumer awareness of this logo was tested in research conducted as part of the study. When prompted with the logos of ASEAN and Visit ASEAN, 41% of respondents said that they could recall one or both of these symbols. Around 22% said they recalled the ASEAN logo and around 10% recalled the ASEAN - Asia’s Perfect 10 Paradise logo. One important use of the logo and tagline is on Member Country promotional collateral at international trade shows. For example, the Thailand Authority of Tourism (TAT) has incorporated the VAC logo in its promotional materials as well as displaying it in TAT booths in international trade shows. However, only three NTO websites (Brunei, Indonesia and Philippines) have, on their home pages, the ASEAN logo and a link back to the organisation’s website.

I.

•

In 2001, Singapore suggested that in order to facilitate the approval for budget commitments from each ASEAN NTO, it would be worthwhile to assess the total value arising from carrying the VAC logo on international advertising and collaterals of each ASEAN country. In this way, ASEAN NTOs would be better able to demonstrate the significant added value arising from greater awareness of ASEAN as a single destination derived from the US$125,300 contribution expected from each ASEAN country.

•

A workshop for VAC held on 27-30 September 2001 in Osaka, Japan, in conjunction with the World Tourism Organisation (WTO) noted that most Japanese perceive ASEAN as a trade area only and do not perceive the VAC tagline to be appealing. The meeting recommended that VAC should have a different tagline per market.

THEME SONG

The ASEAN theme song has been developed but its usage is unknown. One NTO considered that the song should be used during ATF and other ASEAN tourism activities. J. SPONSORSHIP A public relations (PR) company, ISCB, was retained in 2001 to seek sponsorship from potential companies for the Visit ASEAN Campaign. A number of sponsorship packages were developed with partner packages originally proposed to cost US $500,000. Over time, the cost of the partner sponsorship package was revised downwards to US $100,000. In 2005-2006, CNN International became the “Official International Cable and Satellite TV Partner” and provided in kind airtime with a card value of US $100,764 annually on CNN Asia and South Asia. K. ASEAN AND ASEANTA WEBSITES Website design and evaluation techniques have matured rapidly over the past few years. A number of different measures may be used to evaluate performance of websites. In particular the number of hits and number of downloaded pages are convenient measures for evaluating usage of websites that are easy to obtain. The effectiveness of the websites was measured using a procedure discussed in Appendix 3, 30 evaluators were asked to examine the ASEAN, ASEANTA and ASEAN Member Country tourism websites. The results indicate that the ASEAN and ASEANTA websites could be improved in a number of areas in order to reach the performance level of a number of ASEAN NTO websites.

14



L. PR SUPPORT The manner in which the effectiveness of PR support provided for the Visit ASEAN Campaign may be measured depends upon the actual targeted communications. PR support was provided during a number of trade shows such as the World Travel Market. No information is available on the effectiveness of PR support. M. AVIATION MAGAZINE ADVERTISING One method to target ASEAN travellers involves the use of advertising or advertorial material in the magazines of airlines. Such material targets a key market for ASEAN. The effectiveness of the use of airline magazine advertising could be measured by the number of pages covered. The amount of advertorial space airlines are allowing is not yet available. N. INTEGRATION WITH NTO MARKETING PROGRAMS Some evidence of the integration of the Visit ASEAN Campaign into NTO marketing programs has been provided by Member Countries. For example, TAT continues to update its overseas offices on the VAC information. Information from other NTOs is not yet available. O. ASEAN HIP HOP/AIR PASS ASEANTA is a not-for-profit peak tourism organisation comprising both public and private tourism sector organisations from ASEAN. Members include the national tourism organisations, hotel associations, travel agent associations, national airlines and other interested business entities within ASEAN. ASEANTA has, over the years, played an important role in promoting and developing ASEAN tourism products. In 2004, ASEANTA introduced a one year promotion comprised of three components - air, hotel and tour pass. The Air Pass was sold at US$399 (excluding applicable taxes) for a minimum of three flight coupons enabling ASEAN tourists to visit at least 2 ASEAN destinations. Additional flight coupons could be purchased at US$150 each. The hotel component was US$35, US$50 and US$70 for 3 star, 4 star and 5 star participating ASEAN hotels respectively. The Tour Pass component provided discounted airport-hotel-airport ground transfers and half-day city tours for holders of the ASEAN Hip Hop Pass. Airport-hotel-airport ground transfer (inclusive of a half-day city tour) was charged at US$30 nett per passenger (minimum of 2 passengers travelling). ASEANTA launched the Visit ASEAN Pass (vap!) at the ASEAN Tourism Forum in January 2006. The vap! is essentially an integration of two previous passes – the Hip Hop Pass and the ASEAN Circle Pass – which had been restricted to ASEAN residents. With the vap! ASEANTA sought to improve the distribution of travel and tourism products and services. The vap! was made available for sale through all travel agents as well as ASEAN airlines worldwide offices namely Royal Brunei Airlines, Garuda Indonesia, Malaysia Airlines, Myanmar Airways, Philippine Airlines, Singapore Airlines, Silk Air, Thai Airways International and Viet Nam Airlines. ASEANTA representatives have recently developed a website where the Visit ASEAN Pass, and other passes (hotel and tour) may be purchased. This development is a strategic initiative that is discussed below. The performance of the air pass can best be measured by the number of passes sold. Currently, each of the participating airlines sells the pass and reports the performance to ASEANTA. More recent information is not currently available and the reason given for this is that airlines that sell the pass are reluctant to provide figures. There is a code for use in reporting but there also may be difficulty in accessing this information. There are 11 participating airlines and there is variation in information each one has. ASEANTA suggests that this difficulty in reporting will be addressed when the new web portal is implemented.


15


At the 25th ASEAN Task Force on Marketing meeting on 27 April 2005, it was reported that for the period 15 April 2004-28 February 2005, the total numbers of coupons sold/flown was 17,156, as reported by 6 airlines. The total sum of US$300,000 provided in 2004/2005 was not adequate to enable sufficient penetration and exposure and the use of some media does not reach potential travellers in the ASEAN region effectively. The effectiveness of the Visit ASEAN Pass is not currently known. However it should be noted that the success of this initiative will be affected by the introduction of low-cost airlines into ASEAN. One NTO responded for this report that the ASEAN Pass cost is not competitive enough, taking into account the low-cost carriers. Low-cost airlines are not included in the vap!. ASEANTA, in conjunction with Zartmann Tourism Solutions, is currently developing a One-Stop-Shop for ASEAN tourism services and products. In essence this system consists of four components. Firstly, a product database containing prices; secondly, a system for dynamic management of stock by the supplier tourism companies; thirdly, an Internet front end that allows travel agents or consumers to access product information on availability and finally, a funds transfer at reconciliation tool. Such systems are increasingly becoming available around the world and potentially are a strategic resource for a destination, a country or indeed ASEAN. The German company enters data which can come from multiple sources and in multiple forms such as Word or Excel. ASEANTA has established an association with Zartmann Tourism Solutions to develop this website in part because there were no initial upfront costs in system development. Instead, Zartmann Tourism Solutions take a percentage of each transaction. As this is a strategic initiative, evaluation of it is complex and extends beyond the scope of this report. It is strongly suggested that the consequences of the strategic initiative are further discussed within the ASEAN tourism industry. Figure 3 The system schematic

Planning & booking Traveller Sales

Travel Agent

1. Planning & booking

e-PriNz VAP e-Platform data base

4. E-mail: - Confirmation - Nett Invoice* - Travel Vouchers & Itinerary

2. Information, Nett Payment** & Reporting***

Hotel/Tour Operator

3. Confirmation

*Nett Invoice = Gross deducted by 7% commission for hotels, 10% commission for tours & transfer and airline commission (variable) **Nett Payment = Gross deducted by agent commission, 5% VAP system & fulfilment fee and CC fee ***Reporting = Overview of all transactions

Source http://www.visitasean.travel/Introduction.aspx?MCID=76&TQID=1541

16



P. MAIN MEDIA ADVERTISING A number of television commercials have been produced for the Visit ASEAN Campaign. In 2001, the production of the ASEAN TV Commercials (TVC) was funded by ASEAN COCI while airtime was funded by UNDP. In addition, various ASEAN TV stations were also carrying the TVCs on their channels. The first TVC “ASEAN Smiles” with the VAC logo was aired on BBC Europe, Middle East, South Africa and South Asia, CNN Europe, and CETV China between 16 June - 18 July 2001. The UNDP agreed to broadcast the second phase promotion on BBC Asia Pacific and Europe, and the Discovery Channel Australia-New Zealand in November 2001. In 2004, media advertising focused solely on promoting intra-ASEAN travel via the ASEAN Hip Hop Pass promotion. It appears that the effectiveness of ASEAN advertising has been affected by the low budgets available.

Q. INTERMEDIATE OUTCOME EVALUATION OF VISIT ASEAN CAMPAIGN In Figure 3, a number of intermediate outcome evaluation measures were proposed. These included support by government, brand awareness and brand attitude. Performance on these measures is examined below. Wong (2007), in a study of ASEAN tourism found that stakeholders in the region will often refer to national leaders, tourism policy-makers, sub-regional organisations, and the private sector. National leaders are the ones who decide if and how collaborative tourism policies are implemented. Domestically, tourism is only one of the many economic sectors that compete for attention and resources. Therefore, political will and commitment towards tourism collaboration from the top of the hierarchy is of paramount importance. The policymakers who participated in the Wong (2007) study pointed out that the mutual understanding and predictability built up over the past few years of working together are essential catalysts that speed up the collaborative process. The trust and friendship developed have helped to foster a cooperative mindset and environment. It would appear from observations by the author at the ASEAN Tourism Forum that one of the important intermediate outcomes for the Visit ASEAN Campaign has been increased knowledge and interest in ASEAN tourism promotion by numerous governmental leaders. On the other hand another group of key stakeholders - the private sector - do not appear to have knowledge of the Visit ASEAN Campaign. In interviews with tourism operators at the ASEAN Tourism Forum there was an almost universal lack of knowledge concerning the Visit ASEAN Campaign. Tourism is industry-driven. Currently, industry players have a very low level of involvement in ASEAN tourism. Respondents of this study view that stronger publicprivate sector partnership needs to be built. Brand awareness is an important intermediate outcome. This was measured by use of a survey as described in Appendix 1. It should be noted that the survey was only conducted in the international airport terminals of four countries and thus does not fully reflect a total ASEAN view. This is a limitation of this report but it is considered that the results of this survey are indicative of the overall picture. In order to measure brand awareness a number of questions were used. Firstly survey respondents were asked whether they had heard the term ASEAN before and 55% said that they had. Respondents were then asked what ASEAN meant to them. Verbatim responses were recorded and translated (see Appendix 2). The results indicate that there was a reasonable level of identification of ASEAN as a multicountry association for the purpose of economic collaboration but that there was little identification of ASEAN as a tourism destination. When asked whether they were aware of any recent promotional advertising for holiday travel for any ASEAN country in the past month, around 25% said that they had. Prompted REPSF Project 06/002: Final Report

17


advertising awareness (that is when respondents were told what ASEAN stands for and asked if they had any recall of advertising for the region as a whole), stands at around 15%. This figure is compared with other data sourced from Roy Morgan Research below. Roy Morgan Research provides ongoing tracking of advertising awareness and other tourism data in a number of markets. For comparison purposes the table below shows the prompted awareness for ASEAN advertising from the research conducted for this report and the prompted advertising awareness in Australia for Queensland and New South Wales (two states of Australia) and also four countries which advertise in Australia. The advertising awareness for ASEAN is lower than a number of other tourism destinations. This indicates that while progress has been made, prior advertising expenditure has not been significant enough to create a large marketing impact. Table 2 ASEAN and other tourism region prompted awareness levels Prompted awareness (2006) ASEAN

15% Australia

Queensland

56.9%

New South Wales

31.5%

Singapore

12.9%

Malaysia

9.9%

Indonesia

19.0%

Thailand

16.4%

Around 8% of respondents stated they had heard of the Visit ASEAN Pass. R. SUMMARY OF VISIT ASEAN CAMPAIGN OUTCOMES In this section, the major components of the Visit ASEAN Campaign have been examined and performance measures defined. For a number of these measures, data is not currently available and it is recommended in future that for each initiative, measures are identified and tracked so that overall performance can be reviewed on a regular basis. Measures have been developed at both a component and intermediate outcome level. Where available, component level performance has been acceptable in the majority of cases. However, as will be argued below, as the VAC has moved from focusing on government and market targets to mass-market campaigns it has suffered from a lack of funding. As a result, intermediate level outcomes are low. The performance of the Visit ASEAN Pass is also currently unknown. During discussions with stakeholders a number are of the opinion that the Visit ASEAN Campaign has not been particularly successful and associated it with the Hip Hop Pass. Some Member Countries have doubts about VAC and question whether they should continue with it or not.

18



IV. ASEAN TRAVEL PATTERNS This section provides information on travel patterns within ASEAN. A. METHOD Two sources of information are available. The first is derived from the analysis of statistical information from ASEAN Member Countries. The second is derived from questions conducted in the airport survey. Details of this survey are provided in Appendix 1. The survey was conducted with holiday travellers only. B. RESULTS Table 3 shows the number of intra-and extra-ASEAN visitors to each ASEAN Member Country over an 11 year period. This data shows that there remain significant differences in the volume of tourism flows through various countries. Table 3 Extra and intra-ASEAN visitors arrivals by country of destination, 19952005 (000s) Extra-ASEAN Brunei Darussalam

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

0

0

73

100

104

108

81

86

91

42

51

Cambodia

182

197

163

138

214

411

547

737

565

872

1,202

Indonesia

2,619

3,236

3,222

2,505

2,888

3,009

3,039

2,960

2,304

2,746

2,964

Lao PDR

61

102

110

135

178

209

202

227

204

256

301

Malaysia

1,927

1,926

1,770

1,708

1,984

3,089

3,567

3,414

2,533

3,421

3,446

Myanmar

98

146

156

160

154

225

161

173

551

595

609

Philippines

1,667

1,910

2,067

2,012

1,830

1,709

1,681

1,799

1,776

2,142

2,444

Singapore

4,910

5,004

4,854

4,355

4,743

5,264

4,999

5,034

3,820

5,276

5,601

Thailand

5,083

5,458

5,463

6,077

6,710

7,312

7,676

8,184

7,428

8,801

8,417

Viet Nam

1,328

1,588

1,495

1,504

1,614

1,885

2,089

2,359

2,102

2,597

2,998

Extra-ASEAN

17,875

19,566

19,373

18,694

20,419

23,221

24,042

24,971

21,372

26,748

28,033

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

0

0

570

864

851

876

759

805

853

78

76

Intra-ASEAN Brunei Darussalam Cambodia

38

63

56

38

49

56

58

50

136

183

220

Indonesia

1,705

1,799

1,963

2,102

1,840

2,055

2,115

1,954

2,067

2,548

2,038

Lao PDR

285

301

353

365

446

528

472

509

433

639

794

Malaysia

5,542

5,212

4,441

3,843

5,947

7,182

9,208

9,878

8,044

12,282

12,985

Myanmar

12

17

33

38

42

45

43

45

46

62

52

Philippines

93

139

155

137

141

283

116

134

131

149

179

Singapore

2,228

2,289

2,344

1,888

2,224

2,428

2,520

2,533

2,307

3,099

3,341

Thailand

1,868

1,787

1,831

1,765

2,088

2,197

2,386

2,615

2,655

2,937

3,100

Viet Nam

23

20

221

0

167

265

241

269

327

330

470

11,794

11,627

11,967

11,039

13,796

15,916

17,918

18,791

16,999

22,308

23,254

Intra-ASEAN

Source: ASEAN Statistical Yearbook, 2005


19


Table 4 shows the number and percentage of people who visit a particular ASEAN country and also visit other countries on the same trip. For example, of the travellers who go to Brunei, 43% also travel to Malaysia, 21% also travel to Singapore and 15% to Philippines. These results are indicative only as the survey was only conducted in the international airports of four countries only (Lao PDR, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines). The data in Table 4 indicates that for all countries in the ASEAN region, intra-ASEAN travel to neighbouring countries is also important. Table 4 has two parts. The top section shows the number of travellers. Thus 84 people interviewed went to Brunei on their trip and two people went to both Brunei and Cambodia. The second part shows percentages based on the number of people who went to each country. Thus 43% of holiday visitors who go to Brunei also go to Malaysia during some point of their trip, 69% of holiday visitors to Cambodia also go to Lao PDR. Table 4 Common countries visited within ASEAN – all travellers People who went to country below

Also went to

Brunei

Cambodia

Brunei

84

2

Cambodia

2

Indonesian

9

Lao PDR

0

Malaysia Myanmar

Indonesia

Lao PDR

Malaysia

Myanmar

Philippines

Singapore

Thailand

Viet Nam

36

0

13

17

9

0

9

0

80

7

55

6

1

4

7

40

40

7

241

5

28

0

3

36

43

7

55

5

186

8

4

4

8

102

61

36

6

28

8

260

5

28

66

28

12

0

1

0

4

5

16

1

2

6

4

Philippines

13

4

3

4

28

1

131

18

16

2

Singapore

18

7

36

8

66

2

18

225

45

8

Thailand

11

40

44

102

29

6

16

46

263

46

Viet Nam

0

40

7

61

12

4

2

8

46

92

Non ASEAN

44

28

59

58

228

15

32

110

117

53

Brunei

Cambodia

Indonesia

Lao PDR

Malaysia

Myanmar

Philippines

Singapore

Thailand

Viet Nam

100%

3%

4%

0%

14%

0%

10%

8%

3%

0%

Cambodia

2%

100%

3%

30%

2%

6%

3%

3%

15%

43%

Indonesian

11%

9%

100%

3%

11%

0%

2%

16%

16%

8%

Lao PDR

0%

69%

2%

100%

3%

25%

3%

4%

39%

66%

Malaysia

43%

8%

12%

4%

100%

31%

21%

29%

11%

13%

Myanmar

0%

1%

0%

2%

2%

100%

1%

1%

2%

4%

Philippines

15%

5%

1%

2%

11%

6%

100%

8%

6%

2%

Singapore

21%

9%

15%

4%

25%

13%

14%

100%

17%

9%

Thailand

13%

50%

18%

55%

11%

38%

12%

20%

100%

50%

Viet Nam

0%

50%

3%

33%

5%

25%

2%

4%

17%

100%

Non ASEAN

52%

35%

24%

31%

88%

94%

24%

49%

44%

58%

Brunei

In Table 5, the average number of countries visited on the trip was determined for people from different origin countries. ASEAN travellers interviewed were likely to be travelling to 20



fewer countries (on average 1.8 countries) while travellers from more distant origin countries were likely to visit more countries per trip, with the average for non-ASEAN travellers being 2.4 countries per trip.


21


Table 5 Average number of countries visited on trip by origin Origin region

Average number of countries visited

ASEAN

1.8

NON-ASEAN

2.4

Australian and NZ

2.3

US and Canadian

2.6

Europe

2.6

East Asia

2.5

In Table 6, the percentage of travellers interviewed who had been to various ASEAN countries and who would consider travelling to ASEAN countries again is shown. For all ASEAN countries the number of people who would like to travel to them is less than those who have already travelled indicating the potential for future growth in travel. The percentages for visitors from non-ASEAN countries who have visited and would consider visiting each of the ASEAN countries are also shown in columns 3 and 5. Finally, the last column shows the main destination for visitors from non-ASEAN countries. For 77.6% of nonASEAN visitors, a country in the ASEAN region was the main destination with Indonesia the most popular (23.8% of all visitors from non-ASEAN countries stated their main destination was Indonesia). Table 6 ASEAN countries visited, would consider and main destination on trip Visited All visitors (percent)

Visited Non-ASEAN (percent)

Consider All visitors (percent)

Consider Non-ASEAN (percent)

Main destination Non-ASEAN visitors (percent) 0.2

Brunei

20.5

13.8

41.8

45.3

Cambodia

21.0

24.1

53.8

55.8

1.6

Indonesia

44.8

48.4

65.8

70.8

23.8

Lao PDR

34.4

36.6

56.6

56.0

10.7

Malaysia

59.7

55.5

64.5

65.5

4.7

Myanmar

13.3

13.3

44.3

45.1

0.7

Philippines

40.1

35.6

57.7

57.8

14.9

Singapore

58.6

53.7

69.7

65.1

5.6

Thailand

61.3

57.0

79.4

78.4

8.7

Viet Nam

28.2

30.0

71.2

69.6

6.9

Non-ASEAN

22.4

Table 7 below shows the responses of visitors to various image statements regarding ASEAN as a whole. Separate columns are provided for the responses for the total sample as well as ASEAN and non-ASEAN respondents. In general non-ASEAN visitors had a more positive attitude to ASEAN than residents. Non-ASEAN visitors considered ASEAN to be an exotic, unique, historic and cultural destination that is welcoming and friendly with lots to see and do. In Table 7, the numbers in brackets indicate the relative importance ranking of each attribute, eg., lots of culture was the attribute which ASEAN travellers most thought applied to

22



the ASEAN region, whilst for non-ASEAN visitors this was also the most important attribute (although it scored equally with lots to see and do). Table 7 Agreement with statements about ASEAN by non-ASEAN respondents and ASEAN respondents (1 = strongly applies and 5 = does not apply all) Total

ASEAN

Non-ASEAN

(mean)

Mean/ (Ranking)

Mean/ (Ranking)

lots of culture

1.73

1.81 (1)

1.64 (1)

easy to get to

1.9

1.88 (2)

1.93 (8)

lots of history

1.81

1.91 (3)

1.7 (3)

friendly and welcoming

1.86

1.96 (4)

1.74 (5)

lots to see and do

1.83

1.98 (5)

1.64 (1)

easy to travel around in

2.12

2.06 (6)

2.2 (13)

an area I feel part of

2.24

2.12 (7)

2.41 (16)

a unique area

1.95

2.13 (8)

1.72 (4)

relaxing

2.05

2.14 (9)

1.92 (7)

2

2.17 (10)

1.78 (6)

good for a cheap holiday

2.11

2.19 (11)

2 (10)

a great area for families

2.26

2.23 (12)

2.29 (14)

a great area for couples

2.13

2.26 (13)

1.96 (9)

a natural area

2.2

2.26 (14)

2.12 (11)

offers too much for one visit

2.22

2.28 (15)

2.14 (12)

touristy and commercialised

2.37

2.34 (16)

2.41 (15)

natural and unspoiled

2.4

2.36 (17)

2.46 (17)

quiet and secluded

2.57

2.56 (18)

2.56 (18)

a neglected area

3.1

3.18 (19)

3 (19)

sedate and dull

3.61

3.48 (20)

3.77 (20)

exotic

Respondents were also asked about their use of low-cost airlines. Around 44% of respondents had used a low-cost airline before and just over 23% of respondents were using a low-cost airline as part of the trip. These results shown in Table 8 indicated lowcost airlines are increasingly a normal component of travel in South-East Asia. Table 8 Use of low-cost airlines Percentage of respondents using a low-cost airline Ever used a low-cost airline

44.0

Used a low-cost airline on this trip

29.3


23


Table 9 below shows the number of respondents’ use of different sources to collect information regarding the trip. In this question, multiple sources were reported on, so percentages do not add to 100. Travel agents were the most frequently used source of information, followed by the Internet. The same table shows the method of booking. Here travel agents were used for the majority of bookings (59%) and the Internet was used for around 20% of bookings. Table 9 Source of information for trip Information source

Method of booking

(all mentions) Travel Agent

39%

59%

Internet

23%

20%

Newspapers

6%

0%

Travel Guide

11%

2%

By themselves

1%

4%

Family

7%

6%

Friend

7%

5%

Company

1%

1%

Around 79% of respondents said that they were likely to take another holiday in the ASEAN region in the next two years.

C. DISCUSSION Travel patterns of holidaymakers both intra-ASEAN and between ASEAN and the rest of the world are complex. Research conducted for this report indicates a significant amount of intra-ASEAN travel. The implication of this is that there is a sound basis for promotion of ASEAN as a marketing entity. Further, this study highlights that travellers who have visited one of the countries of ASEAN are also likely to visit other countries. Thus there appears a good likelihood of being able to promote other ASEAN countries to existing visitors. The research has highlighted key attributes of the ASEAN destination which appear common across the ASEAN area. These factors include history, culture, friendly and welcoming, unique and exotic. Further, there appear significant reasons for countries to work together for promotion and marketing purposes on an “ASEAN minus x” basis. This research highlights the strategic importance of research studies into travel patterns within the ASEAN region. It is recommended that further studies on the travel patterns of visitors are conducted. In particular in future it is recommended that studies are conducted which are representative of the travel patterns of both international and domestic travellers. It would also be useful for research data from ASEAN countries to be collected in a common manner (i.e. using the same categories for the age profile of travellers, purpose of trip). This would enable maximum value to be obtained from relevant statistical data available from existing data and research collections.

24



V. SUGGESTED IMPROVEMENTS A. IMPROVING MARKETING EFFECTIVENESS The second component of this evaluation focuses on marketing campaign effectiveness and seeks to determine if changes to the marketing program to do different tasks may lead to a better outcome in future. These opportunities and initiatives should encourage increased visits to and within the region. Such opportunities were sourced from a number of stakeholders including the NTOs of Member Countries, dialogue partners, travel agents and sponsors. Strategies specifically considered included activities proposed at the recent ASEAN Tourism Ministers Meeting in Davao, Philippines, namely: 1. Setting up of a common ASEAN area in major international events such as International Tourism Exchange (ITB, Berlin), WTM, China International Travel Mart (CITM), and JATA 2. Establishment of ASEAN tourism chapters 3. Promotion of ASEAN tourism through the airline facilities, e.g. in-flight magazines 4. Establishment of ASEAN Tourism Centres as dedicated organisations that will promote ASEAN tourism in major international markets similar to the ASEAN-Japan Centre 5. Joint familiarisation trip for outbound tour operators of major international markets 6. Promotion of youth travel B. METHOD Information on which to base the evaluation of the effectiveness of the Visit ASEAN Campaign was derived from discussions and a survey with ASEAN NTOs and also trade partners. Results are given below. C. COMMON AREA IN TRADE SHOWS Establishing an ASEAN common area in international travel fairs is one of the easiest of the six ideas presented. A common ASEAN area in international travel fairs is a specific location/contiguous space where all participating ASEAN NTOs would co-locate their destinations booths. The benefits of such co-location are that it promotes the ASEAN Member Countries as a cohesive unit amongst the trade buyers and sellers. It is important that such co-location of members at a trade show is supported by PR, events and other related activities. An ASEAN common area was trialled at the China International Travel Mart 2006 in Shanghai and appears successful. One issue to be addressed is who will organise the event? Due to extensive coordination between ASEAN Member Countries and the event organizer, the preparation for this arrangement might require a period of at least one year before the event. A Member Country or the ASEAN Secretariat might be appointed as coordinator. The coordinator could act as a focal point for ASEAN Member Countries and the event organiser in preparing and implementing the proposal and if necessary, a contractor might be appointed to design and develop the area and booths allocated. To derive maximum mileage from limited resources, it is important for ASEAN to target only key international tourism/travel events, apart from China International Travel Mart (CITM), namely: International Tourism Exchange (ITB, Berlin), Japan Association of Travel Agents (JATA) Travel Trade, World Travel Mart (WTM, London), and Arabian Travel Mart (ATM, Dubai). REPSF Project 06/002: Final Report

25


In enhancing the impact of the appearance of ASEAN as a group in the international tourism fairs, an ASEAN joint press conference could be held to highlight the progress of ASEAN tourism particularly on tourism products. The press conference should be led by the Chair of ASEAN NTOs and include all ASEAN Member Country representatives. A special meeting of the Task Force on ASEAN Tourism Marketing may be convened to discuss, among other things, marketing matters related to the respective fairs. There seems good support from NTOs regarding the setting up of a common ASEAN area in major international events. D. OVERSEAS COORDINATION OF MARKETING There are several options to address enhanced coordination of overseas marketing amongst ASEAN Member Countries. These include the establishment of a dedicated ASEAN tourism centre, reactivation of the ASEAN Promotional Chapter for Tourism (APCT) or appointment of marketing representatives. A dedicated ASEAN tourism centre in Japan has existed for a number of years. Funding of the centre has been shared between ASEAN and the Japanese government, a dialogue partner. The role of the centre has been to maintain relationships with media, outbound tour operators and other related business entities, provide tourism market intelligence for ASEAN Member Countries, organising road shows/ASEAN tourism events, distribution of ASEAN tourism promotional materials and provide training for tourism operators in the ASEAN region. It is currently proposed to establish an ASEAN - China tourism centre in Shanghai. The concept of an ASEAN Promotional Chapter is not new as the idea to establish an ASEAN Promotional Chapter for Tourism (APCT) in several major ASEAN source markets was discussed at the 8th Meeting of ASEAN Sub-Committee on Marketing held on 19-22 August 1975 in Singapore. Based on those discussions, the APCT was established in the beginning of 1977 to jointly promote the interests of all ASEAN NTOs in major markets. Currently in Sydney, Australia, there is coordination between ASEAN NTOs and such coordination seems practical although it would be important to determine the exact mechanism of coordination. A further step - that of developing one central office where all ASEAN NTO representatives are located - was not favoured. Currently, only four ASEAN Member Countries have overseas representatives/offices Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. Therefore, with the condition that at least four ASEAN Member Countries are represented in the major source markets, the possible APCTs would be as follows: •

China

•

Korea

•

Japan

•

USA

•

Australia

•

United Kingdom

Appointment of representatives is another alternative and is often used by various countries as part of an overseas tourism marketing strategy. Representatives are generally used for cost minimisation purposes where opening an office and staffing it cannot be justified. The key issues in deciding amongst these options relate to availability of funding as well as the perceived desirability of centralised coordination of marketing activity. A dedicated centre involves overheads whereas establishing an ASEAN tourism chapter does not. Appointing a representative may be useful in small developing markets where there are no existing ASEAN member tourism offices, but presence is desired. 26



There appeared to be support for overseas marketing coordination through the establishment of ASEAN promotional chapters. In addition there is a proposal for a China ASEAN Centre in Shanghai and the benefits of this are dependent upon the actual costings involved. E. ASEAN AIRLINES TOURISM PROMOTION The strategic situation for airlines around the world is rapidly changing. The introduction of low-cost airlines in many countries as well as the ASEAN region has meant changing dynamics in the aviation sector. Low-cost airlines will often operate on a different basis to "legacy carriers" flying point-to-point and hence encouraging mono-destination travel. On the other hand, low-cost airlines themselves are evolving and some are moving to establish into inter-lining facilities and many of the other services offered by "legacy carriers". This dynamic situation is forcing an increased focus on profitability in all activities of legacy carriers. For that reason, they would view ASEAN tourism promotion from a commercial perspective and would therefore want a business case as to why they should undertake it. ASEAN tourism promotion by the airlines was implemented during VAC Phase 3. In implementing this promotional activity, the ASEAN Secretary-General sent a letter to all ASEAN national carriers requesting them to show the VAC video in their in-flight entertainment. Positive responses were received from Singapore Airlines, Thai Airways and Viet Nam Airlines. Beside in-flight entertainment, some airlines have also showcased ASEAN tourism promotion in their in-flight magazines. However, this was not implemented regionwide and has been discontinued. A number of possible activities for cooperation with airlines could include incorporate VAC video in in-flight entertainment, place VAC logo on the cover of in-flight magazine, make in-flight announcement on ASEAN tourism, etc. Tactically, it would appear that there are opportunities for joint promotion with both legacy carriers and low-cost airlines. Developing an understanding of the actual requirements of ASEAN airlines and how they could benefit from joint ASEAN promotion would require a complex analysis. The mechanism for doing this may be through ASEANTA. Thus ASEAN NTOs-ASEANTA joint consultations could be conducted. The problem with this approach is one of organisational efficiency. One general complaint evident during discussions with NTOs is that the mechanisms for consultation through the various ASEAN NTO representatives and the time required to obtain a response is slow. In addition, ASEANTA represents only mainstream carriers and excludes low-cost airlines. In summary from a tactical point of view, the current situation of dealing with airlines may be useful but from a strategic perspective there is a need to implement a mechanism for developing ASEAN-wide initiatives that is both fast and inclusive. F. JOINT FAMILIARISATION TRIPS Familiarisation (FAM) trips for media and outbound tour operators of major source markets help in communicating new tourism products as well as conveying accurate messages or information on ASEAN Member Countries concerned, particularly after regional crises or disasters. The engagement of tourism journalists or authors on a FAM trip might further enhance the image of ASEAN tourism. Outbound tour operators sell destinations on a regional basis, i.e., South East Asia. Therefore, the joint FAM trip to a few ASEAN Member Countries in one trip would also reduce the costs of financing their travels, especially long-haul tour operators, as they could visit three to four countries in a single long-haul trip. For this purpose, the preparation and discussion of FAM trips could be done in the meeting of Task Force on ASEAN Tourism Marketing. REPSF Project 06/002: Final Report

27


There seems general agreement for coordination of familiarisation trips. These provide a showcase for the new products / routes and its selling potentiality to the productive and potential agents. Currently, the coordination of such tasks is ad hoc and it would benefit from a more systematic and centralised approach. Thus while this task appears to be favoured, the operational details of it require funding. G. PROMOTION FOR YOUTH TRAVELLERS Youth tourism is a potential area for development in the ASEAN area. There are two niche markets within it. Firstly, student travel and exchange between countries, possibly subsidised. The second idea involves development and subsidisation of travel - like a youth pass. In 2006, Singapore and Malaysia launched a youth exchange program and more initiatives such as this could be developed. Such a program would require examination to determine exactly how it would operate on ASEAN-wide basis. It is suggested that this initiative be treated as a developing niche market and form the basis of a particular study. Indeed such a study might form the template for examination of other specialist niche markets where ASEAN could work together. It is suggested that a niche market development program or plan be developed for the youth market. Such a plan should involve industry (budget accommodation, airlines and youth organisations) as well as government. A second niche product development area within the youth market might be in the area of a youth travel pass. Again there should be a focus for a niche market development program. H. CONCLUSIONS Each of the proposals examined above has merit. However each illustrates in part some common issues relating to promotion of ASEAN tourism. These issues are: 1. The organisational mechanism used to coordinate the activities 2. The funding available 3. The different levels of skills in the NTOs to support these initiatives 4. A lack of information including how to develop niche markets. Each one of these issues will be discussed in the marketing recommendations section below. I.

DIALOGUE PARTNER SUGGESTIONS No dialogue partner suggestions were received.

28



VI. MARKETING RECOMMENDATIONS A. STRATEGIC AIMS AND OBJECTIVES The previous research and discussions have highlighted a number of issues at both the tactical and strategic level whereby the Visit ASEAN Campaign can be improved. The Visit ASEAN Campaign began as a one-year initiative and has been extended as the benefits of ASEAN Member Country tourism coordination became apparent. However in the process, existing institutions have been adapted to the complex challenge of joint organisational marketing. The Visit ASEAN Campaign has evolved from having a key stakeholder and trade focus to a consumer focus. In the process, tactical campaign components such as the development of maps and collateral material have led to strategic projects such as the ASEAN-ASEANTA website portal, use of mass media advertising and other initiatives. Such developments are the future of ASEAN tourism but currently suffer from a lack of funding. From an organisational perspective the resulting mechanisms for coordination are inefficient, primarily due to the complex decision-making process involved in reaching consensus decisions. This leads to long lead times in implementation of marketing plans. Representatives of ASEANTA indicated that one of its key problems is being able to plan on a consistent basis at least a year ahead. There is a need to be able to state clearly how much in funding will be available. Currently if the industry asks for certain funding, the process of approval (possibly with less money than asked for) is cumbersome and time-consuming. From a marketing perspective there appears a need for a strategic plan for promotion of ASEAN as a tourism destination driven by commercial realities rather than the day-to-day or year-to-year demands. Such a plan would provide clear and measurable aims and objectives commensurate with resources, and would define organisational roles and reporting mechanisms. B. INCREASED TRADE COMMUNICATION The results of interviewing participants at the ASEAN Tourism Forum indicate that they are largely ignorant of the activities of the Visit ASEAN Campaign. There is a need for better communication of Visit ASEAN Campaign activities to industry stakeholders. It would appear that ASEANTA has a strong role in such communication. It may be possible to develop communication vehicles such as a Visit ASEAN Campaign magazine but such developments should be tied to creation of mutually beneficial cooperative opportunities for the trade. Currently, ASEANTA represents the ASEAN tourism industry as a whole. ASEANTA as a body is underfunded and therefore its ability to represent the industry is compromised. C. JOINT PROMOTION AND MARKETING ACTIVITIES WITHOUT CASH The more exposure of well-designed marketing material for a destination, the more prominent and competitive that destination will be. Therefore, a marketing program should seek to extend its marketing message through as many channels as possible and as frequently as possible. Often this can be done without any cash funding changing hands, by simply coordinating existing marketing programs. Thus many organisations produce collateral brochures, magazines, websites and other marketing material. By coordination of this material, it is possible to improve the marketing of the region as a whole. Examples of this are numerous and may include: 1. Use of photographs that have been professionally shot to a high quality and which illustrate desired brand elements in partner marketing material. 2. Combining money that would have been spent for stand-alone marketing campaigns into cooperative programs to obtain more marketing exposure for the same amount of


29


money. This is often possible because government organisations can get discounted media buying rates. 3. Use of brand features or logos on all collateral material produced for a region. 4. Use of advertorial material to promote growth for the regional brand and a particular company. Indeed the usual principle for such regional marketing is "sell the region first". D. FUNDING MECHANISMS FOR JOINT PROMOTION AND MARKETING ACTIVITIES In considering the funding for promotion and marketing activities related to the Visit ASEAN Campaign, there are three related issues: the level of funding, the sources of funding and the distribution of funding amongst the sources. The level of funding of the Visit ASEAN Campaign depends upon the strategic aims and hence the type of activity being undertaken. There are a variety of sources of funding for the Visit ASEAN Campaign. Over several years there have been attempts to enlarge the sources of funding for promotion through sponsorship such as when CNN provides in-kind sponsorship through provision of advertising time, development agencies provide funding for development of advertising material or airlines provide free space in their in-flight magazines. However it is fair to say that in the past the majority of cash funding has been sourced from Member Countries. The tourism industry provides another source of funding for promotion. In many countries it is common for cooperative marketing programs to be developed and funded jointly with the industry. Such joint funding is usually undertaken by establishing a destination marketing organisation that receives government funding but in addition receives fees from industry members. These membership fees are often different amounts depending upon the level of membership, which will usually also give members different levels of influence over the development of the marketing activities of the destination marketing organisation. Thus there might be a gold level member who pays $10,000 per year, a silver level member who pays $5,000 per year and a bronze level member who pays $1,000 per year for membership. The benefit to members is linked to their level of membership. For example, gold level members usually include larger hotel establishments that may have convention facilities. Therefore the establishment of a convention marketing unit as part of the domestic marketing organisation would benefit these gold level members. For bronze level members, benefits may include the development of a destination portal that provides information about bronze (as well a silver and gold) level members and potentially even a booking mechanism. The aim of such activities is to directly link contributions by members to business generated for them. The third issue concerns the distribution of funding amongst the various sources. Currently, members pay equal contributions for the Visit ASEAN Campaign. Based on the previous analysis in this report it appears that the principle of equal contribution by Member Countries is leading to an inability to raise sufficient funds to meet the aims of the Visit ASEAN Campaign. E. SHORTCOMINGS OF EXISTING FORMULA There are two shortcomings with the current formula for distributing funding across Member Countries. Firstly, the costs of equal participation affect smaller countries much more than larger countries. This statement is based on the large differences in both GDP and GDP per capita amongst the various countries within ASEAN. These differences make it difficult for some countries to contribute to the Visit ASEAN Campaign to the same extent as others. Secondly, the benefits of any stimulation of the market are more likely to flow to larger countries (unless the stimulation is targeted at specific market segments). This is due to the significant differences in the size of the tourism industry amongst the ASEAN Member Countries. This may be seen in table 10 below.

30



Table 10 UNWTO Tourist Expenditure Estimate 2005 (US$ Millions) Travel Expenditure

Tourism Expenditure

Proportion of Total Expenditure

Brunei Darussalam

801

Cambodia

840

927

2.5%

Indonesia

4,522

5092

13.3%

Lao PDR

146

Malaysia

8,846

10389

26.0%

Myanmar

84

98

0.2%

Philippines

2130

2620

6.2%

Singapore

5,736

Thailand

10,104

0.2%

0.4%

2

Viet Nam

1,598

Total

34,086

16.8% 12629

29.6%

1880

4.7% 100.0%

Source UNWTO elibrary Basic Indicators 2005 The problem of how to distribute funding for promotion across members of a cooperative organisation is a common one. For example, the South Pacific Tourism Organisation (SPTO) uses a complex formula based on GDP, tourism numbers, as well as a factor as to whether the country is large or small. In thinking about a formula it is first useful to specify the criteria which will determine the acceptability of such a formula to Member Countries. In essence Member Countries will feel more comfortable with a formula if they are aware of the broad parameters on which it is based. The following criteria are considered to provide the framework for such formula. 1. Accessibility – it is important that all members respectively have equal access to services and facilities of the ASEAN Tourism Secretariat whichever formula is developed and accepted. 2. Equity -- the new formula should not marginalise the position of any Member Country in terms of their same position in determining the joint tourism activities undertaken. 3. Value for money -- the Member Countries need to see value for money in the contributions they respectively make. 4. Inducement -- the new formula needs to be also such that it encourages the respective Member Countries to use services and facilities of the ASEAN Secretariat. Given the existing diversity of both the GDP and GDP per capita of Member Countries (as a measure of capacity to pay) and the size of tourism expenditure in the country (as a measure of benefit of promotion) it would appear that some sort of two tier system is required for funding. For example, it may be possible to ask all members to provide an equal base contribution. On top of this it would be expected that Member Countries provide funds proportional to the size of their tourism sector. This additional funding would be for cooperative marketing programs that had been agreed with Member Countries and with 1 2

Estimate based on an industry the same size as Myanmar Estimate based on 85% of tourism expenditure


31


industry participants. These additional cooperative marketing program funds may be sourced either from the NTO or from industry. Thus it is recommended that funding for the Visit ASEAN Campaign is sourced as follows. Firstly, a base level of funding from each of the Member Countries. Such funding should cover training, research and some common promotional activities. Secondly, there should be a second level of funding for strategic projects, consumer marketing or other activities where the funds are determined by the end benefit for various countries. This second level of funding may be determined by the proportions of ASEAN travel expenditure derived by each country. Further this second level of funding may be sourced either from the Member Country or from its tourism industry or in some mix of the two sources. Box 4 Funding for Brand Australia Tourism Australia is responsible for marketing Australia overseas as a tourism destination. While it receives funding for tourism marketing, it works with the various State governments and the tourism industry to leverage its funds. Tourism Australia conducts research, trade consultation and strategic analysis to determine the brand and position in the market that needs to be developed. It will then develop creative material that can be linked to the marketing efforts of the various states and tourism operators. It will develop a strategic plan for marketing in the various source markets and provides cooperative marketing programs for its various partners in these markets. Thus Tourism Australia, in developing “Brand Australia” works with two tiers of funding. Firstly there is centralised funding for research, concept development, creative material development and core brand advertising. This is then augmented with funding from its partners based on specific targeted promotions. F. DEVELOPMENT AND TRAINING It is clear that the different ASEAN countries vary in their expertise and knowledge regarding tourism promotion and marketing. It is suggested that development and training programs in tourism marketing and promotion would be of benefit to ASEAN Member Countries. Such a program might be funded by a development agency. G. ASEAN SECRETARIAT TOURISM STAFFING Given that this paper has suggested numerous additional tasks that require some degree of coordination, it is considered that the level of support staff in the ASEAN Secretariat’s Tourism Unit should be increased.

32



VII. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS Based on the above research and discussion, it is concluded that many but not all of the objectives for components of the Visit ASEAN Campaign have been reached. It is further concluded that where these objectives have not been achieved it has been primarily due to a lack of funding and resources that have led to a sub-optimal outcome. It is also concluded that some progress has been made to achieving intermediate outcomes such as brand awareness and brand attitude of ASEAN as a tourism destination but again limitations of funding have meant that progress has not been as rapid as possible. Based on the discussion above, the conclusions from this study are that: 1. The research conducted suggests that from a consumer perspective there is sufficient reason for engaging in cooperative marketing for the ASEAN region based on the level of multi-country trips for both ASEAN and non-ASEAN travellers, the high level of repeat visitation suggested by the intention data and by the availability of long-haul markets where sufficient funding for "cut through" advertising from individual countries is not available. 2. The Visit ASEAN Campaign has been successful in developing the basic underpinnings for intra-ASEAN cooperation in tourism as evidenced by the political support received. 3. The Visit ASEAN Campaign has developed a number of successful programs and initiatives at the component level. 4. The Visit ASEAN Campaign has supported strategic initiatives such as the development of an ASEAN web portal. 5. Intermediate outcomes from the Visit ASEAN Campaign such as brand awareness are low and this is attributed to a lack of funding sufficient for consumer marketing. Consistent with these overall conclusions, it is suggested that: 1. The strategic tourism objectives of the Visit ASEAN Campaign be revisited and confirmed. 2. The funding and organisational structures required to meet these objectives are then provided. The Brand Australia mechanism may be a useful model whereby firstly a centralised organisation is established with enhanced resources to provide coordination, and secondly funding is received both from Member Countries and from industry. 3. This report has provided a method for measuring the effectiveness of the Visit ASEAN Campaign and where possible has provided actual performance results. This method is based on the hierarchy of effects model. It is strongly recommended that such a model and measures are adopted in future. 4. An ASEAN branding research program is conducted to further define the ASEAN brand and its values. Such a program would involve both external research in ASEAN's major markets as well as discussions with stakeholders. 5. The resources available in the ASEAN Secretariat be enhanced with a marketing professional employed to support the development of the ASEAN brand research program. 6. Processes are developed to examine the organisational structure for intra-ASEAN coordination of tourism and this involves developing stronger links between ASEAN and tourism operators. Communication with key stakeholders in ASEAN tourism should be improved. 7. A process is developed whereby enhanced cash or non-cash funding for the Visit ASEAN Campaign (defined as a branding program) be developed. Given the developing importance of low-cost airlines within the ASEAN region, it is strongly


33


recommended that such organisations (and indeed tourism organisations within ASEAN) should be included as potential members. 8. A training program is established to upgrade the skills of relevant NTO and tourism industry marketers. 9. It would also be useful for travel data from ASEAN countries to be collected in a common manner (i.e. age profile of travellers, purpose of trip). This would enable maximum value to be obtained from relevant statistical data available from existing data and research collections.

34



REFERENCES Antonioli Corigliano, M., & Baggio, R. (2004). Italian Tourism on the Internet - New Business Models. In K. Weiermair & C. Mathies (Eds.), The Tourism and Leisure Industry Shaping the Future (pp. 301-316). New York: The Haworth Press. Antonioli Corigliano, M., & Baggio, R. (2006). On the Significance of Tourism Website Evaluations. In M. Hitz, M. Sigala & J. Murphy (Eds.), Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism 2006 - Proceedings of the International Conference in Lausanne, Switzerland (pp. 320-331). Wien: Springer. ASEAN Secretariat. (2006). Overview: Association of South East Asian Nations. Retrieved 2nd December, 2006 ASEAN Secretariat. (2007). Chairperson’s Statement of the 12th ASEAN Summit, 2007 Baggio, R. (2003). A Websites Analysis of European Tourism Organizations. Anatolia, 14(2), 93-106. Morrison, A. M., Taylor, J. S., & Douglas, A. (2004). Website Evaluation in Tourism and Hospitality: The Art Is Not Yet Stated. Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, 17(2/3), 233-251. PADECO Co. Ltd. of Japan. (2006). ASEAN Economic Integration in Tourism: Study and Roadmap. Tokoyo: World Bank. Rachman, Z. M., & Buchanan, J. T. (1999a). Effective Tourism Web Sites, Part 1: Literature Review and Features Survey (Research Report Series No. 99-12): Department of Management Systems, University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand. Rachman, Z. M., & Buchanan, J. T. (1999b). Effective Tourism Web Sites, Part 2: Expectation versus Delivery of Tourism Web Sites (Research Report Series No. 9913): Department of Management Systems, University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand. Tourism Australia. (2004). Australia A different light. Sydney: Tourism Australia. Wong, E. P. Y. (2007, 12-14 February). The Recipe for Success in Intergovernmental Tourism Collaboration - Perspectives of ASEAN Stakeholders. Paper presented at the CAUTHE 2007, Manly, Australia.


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36



APPENDIXES

A. APPENDIX 1:

AIRPORT SURVEY

Collection of ASEAN brand awareness and image and tourist travel patterns was through a survey in airport departure lounges n=1031 (approximately 250 in each of Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Vientiane and Manila). Personnel and timing of these airport surveys are provided in Table A1. The sample consisted of non-ASEAN and ASEAN origin holiday travellers and details of respondents are provided in tables A2 and A3. Table A1 Interview teams and timing Country Philippines

Principal Mr Vic Lactaoen

Support

Start Date

Ms Leona Nepumoceno

15 January 2007

Malaysia

Mr Zulkifli Mohamad

Khairil Bashar B Kamisan, Mohd Rashiman B.Rasit, Nur Sari Fardiana Bt Mohn Amran, Jacinta Erang Juleh

19 January 2007

Indonesia

Ms Ida Trisnasari

Mr Dewanta Manik, Lecturer, Pelita Harapan Uni (Hosp. & Tourism Dept)

15 January 2007

Lao PDR

Ms Khounmy Keovongsa

Mr Phouthasack Inthavongkham Mr Anousa Khounnavong

15 January 2007

Mr Phoutsavath Sounthala (all possess MBA)

Table A2 Origin of traveller respondents Frequency

Percent

Brunei

16

1.6%

Cambodia

6

0.6%

Indonesian

78

7.6%

Lao PDR

64

6.2%

Malaysia

102

9.9%

Myanmar

4

0.4%

Philippines

165

16.0%

Singapore

49

4.8%

Thailand

52

5.0%

Viet Nam

20

1.9%

Australia

84

8.1%

New Zealand

17

1.6%

China

13

1.3%

Japan

23

2.2%


37


Korea

10

1.0%

Canada

26

2.5%

United States of America

63

6.1%

Germany

34

3.3%

France

27

2.6%

Italy

11

1.1%

United Kingdom

42

4.1%

India

11

1.1%

Holland/Netherlands

31

3.0%

Other

83

8.1%

Total

1031

100.0%

Table A3 Origin of traveller respondents ASEAN

556

53.9

Non-ASEAN

466

45.2

9

0.9

1031

100

Not recorded Total

38



A. APPENDIX 2: VERBATIM RESPONSES – WHAT DOES ASEAN MEAN TO YOU? 10 COUNTRIES CONTAINED TOGETHER FOR ASSOCIATION OF ASIA

Association

10 Countries of South East Asia

Association

10 SEA UNITED

COUNTRIES

REMAIN

TO

BE

Association

10 SEA COUNTRIES TIED UP

Association

10 sea countries united

Association

A combination of several countries, Malaysia

Association

A good organization for the Asian Count

Association

A Great unexplored continent full of history and great events nice people and lots of potential for tourism

Association

A ground of country and promoting travelling

Association

A group of countries

Association

A group of countries

Association

A group of countries the membership

Association

A group of countries with common goals in terms of economic, cultures, security

Association

A group of south east Asia

Association


Association


Association

A group of South East Asia

Association


Association


ASSOCIATION OF 10 SEA COUNTRIES

A Group of South East Asia

Association of Asia Nations

A Group of South East Asia


A group of South East Asia, Communicate to other countries


A group of South East Asian

Association of Asian countries

A loosely association

arranged

ASEAN

countries

Association of Asian country

A lot of country cooperation

Association of Asian Nation

A sort game like Olympic

Association of countries

A=ASSOCIATION S= SOUTH E= EAST A=ASIAN N= NATIONS

Association of countries Asian

ABOUT ASIAN ASSOCIATION

Association of Countries in South East Asia who cooperate on several fields with each other

ABOUT ASIAN PEOPLE LIKE THAILAND

Association of general country located in Asia

AESEN Economic

Association of Member Countries

ALL ABOUT ASIAN COUNTRIES

ASSOCIATION OF S.E ASIAN NATIONS

ALL ABOUT ASIAN COUNTRY

Association of Sea Countries


39


ALL ABOUT ASIAN COUNTRY

Association of Sea nation

ALL ABOUT ASIAN COUNTRY, PEOPLE

Association of SEA, Politic

ALL ABOUT ASIAN COUNTRY. SINGAPORE, MALAYSIA, BRUNNIE

Association of south east Asia

ALL ABOUT ASIAN PEOPLE

Association of south east Asia

All the countries in Asia

Association of South East Asia

All the countries in south east Asia under whole of Asia

Association of South East Asia

Allowed Countries in S.E Asia for common galas

Association of south east Asia country

an association

Association of south east Asia country

an association

Association of South East Asia Nations

An association of most of Asian countries.


An interesting culture, different type of living and climate


An organization


An organization of Asian countries


ASEAN 10 country to prove economic, trade


ASEAN mean the association of south east Asia nation


ASEAN organization


ASEAN STANDS FOR THE ASSOCIATION OF S.E ASIA


ASEAN stands for the Association of South East Asian Nations.

Association of South East Asian

ASEAN stands for the Association of South East Asian Nations.

Association of south east Asian country

ASEAN summit

Association of south east Asian country

Asia

Association of South east Asian nations

ASIA

Association of South east Asian nations

Asia country

Association of South East Asian nations

Asia country


ASIA MABYE


Asia South East Association Nations


Asia unity


ASIAN


ASIAN ASSOCIATION


Asian countries


Asian countries


ASIAN COUNTRIES


ASIAN COUNTRIES


ASIAN COUNTRIES


40



ASIAN COUNTRIES


ASIAN COUNTRIES


ASIAN COUNTRIES


ASIAN COUNTRIES


ASIAN COUNTRIES


ASIAN COUNTRIES


ASIAN COUNTRIES


ASIAN COUNTRIES


ASIAN COUNTRIES


ASIAN COUNTRIES


ASIAN COUNTRIES


ASIAN COUNTRIES


ASIAN COUNTRIES


ASIAN COUNTRIES


ASIAN COUNTRIES


ASIAN COUNTRIES


Asian countries organization


Asian countries together


Asian country

Association of South Easy Asian Nations

Asian country


Asian country association


Asian have nice girls and they are very friendly


Asian nations


ASIAN PEOPLE


ASIAN PEOPLE?

Association SEA

Asian sport games

Association Sea nations

ASSIO south East Asia

Association SEA nations 10 countries

Association of south east Asian nations

Association South East Asia

Association south east Asia Nations

Association South East Asia Countries

Associate of South East Asia countries improve Eco.

Association South East Asian Nations

Associate of South East Asian Countries

Association South East Asian Nations

Association

Association South of East Asian Nations

Association



Group of countries getting together


Group of countries in S.E Asia


Group of countries in S.E Asia for commercial

Beautiful and Natural

Group of country


41


Group of country in South Asia for cooperate to development country

Beautiful countries Beautiful country

Group of south east Asia nations

Beautiful, Natural

Group of south east Asia nations for economic

Beautiful, relaxing

Group of South East Asian Countries Group of South East Asian, Promote travel in ASEAN region

Better countries BKK, Thailand

Half Australian (part of Asia

Body of South East Asia Country

Has ability of group

Bringing Asian country together

Head of state

Business/Trade association

Holiday to relax with family

Can't describe

Holiday, nice people, sunshine

Can't say

It’s a Group of South East Asia

CEBU meeting of heads of state

I assume it means south east Asia

Co-operation, Business, economic

I don't know

Collaborate of South East Asia countries/ Last Big Meeting in Vientiane

I don't know

Collaboration of Asian countries

I don't know

Collections of Asia

I don't know anything about it

Collective group of countries

I have ever heard ASEAN but what is it?

Combination of 5 South East Asian Countries

I think it's a name of organization

Community, work together

Improving The Economy

Compose of Asian countries our neighbouring countries

Indochina

Compilation of country south east Asian

Indochina region

Congress, Like EU

It's an airline travel agent

Contact business with each other in Asia

It compose Asian countries

Cooperation countries for economics

It is an organization

Cooperation economic

It is just the terms improve the economy

Cooperation of the countries of South East Asians

Its very interesting culture and history

Corporation of S/E Asia countries

Join a corporation

Corporation of S/E Asia countries with 5 members? 7?

Life quite like Europe

Corporations countries for development on economics

Life similar in ASEAN Countries

Could not explain

MABYE ASIAN COUNTRY

Countries together

that

are

geographically

close Make it easy to travel around

Countries

MALAYSIA

Countries In Asia

Many Thing to travel

Countries in the SEA work together in tourism, 42

MAS is not good



economy Countries like IND,THA,VTN which similar

mean M/sia, THA, Brunei, S/pore, Indo and Viet Nam

Countries in S.E Asia

Meet regularly to talk about SEA issues

Country association

Meeting of South East Asian Countries Multinational, organisations

Country association

cooperation

between

Country association in the far east

My country is one of the member

Country of south east Asia like Thailand or Singapore

Neighbour

Coverance [governance?]

Neighbour countries is Asia

Culture

Neighbour hood countries

Development, exchange idea in Europe, a group of south east Asia

Nice countries, politic, economy cooperation

Different Accommodation good countries

Nice country, nice people, Friendly

Different, nice people, nice weather

no

Diversity culture

No comment

Does not know

No comments

Ease of travelling

No countries in ASEAN

Asian

No Countries Nation in South east Asia with the cooperation in term of economies and travelling

Ease to travel within ASEAN countries Ease travel

Organization

Easier to travel than another

Organization for Asia countries

Easy to travel, open Europe to travel

Organization for South East Asia countries

Economic and politic organization

Organization of countries for economic purpose

Economic countries

change,

meant

for

ASEAN Organization South East Asia

Economic Cooperation

Organisation

Economic development or organization

Organisation

Economic organization

Organization

Economic organization for South East Asia Countries

Organization


Organization


Organization

Economic organization for Asian countries

Organization for Asian countries

Economic organization for Asian countries


Economy, community


Exciting friendly people, lovely children, low cost

Organization for South East Asia

Far east countries


Fellow



43


For a good holiday


For Asian countries including India

Organization for South East Asia Countries

For meeting

Organization for South East Asian Countries

Free trade area in south east Asia

Organization for South East Asian countries

Friendly

Organization for South East Asian countries

Friendly people, sun ie. conditions. Good holiday.

Good

weather Organization no action talk only

Good

Organization of Asian countries

Good

Organization of Sea

Good but political weak

Organization of Sea nation

Good Food

Organization of Sea nation

Good to join countries

Organization of South East Asian

Good trade

Organization partnership of countries

Good Transportation

Organization political

Good, develop, economic

Organization that bring Asian countries together

Government, Social, Economic

Orient culture

Group

Oriental

Group country in south east Asia

Our neighbouring countries in Asian

Group country in South East Asia

Over heard but not familiar

Group of Asian countries

Partnership of ASEAN country

Group of Asian countries

People are friendly, kind, smart

Group of Asian countries economic

Politic, Economic, Soc

Group of Asian Countries joined together

Political group

Group of Asian countries united

Political group

Group of countries

Political group in the region

Group of countries

Political party?

Group of countries

Politics economics development organization for Asia

Group of countries

Politics economics organization

Group of countries

Promotion about travelling

Group of countries close to Brunei

Region country

Regional grouping

South East Asian Country

Region of SEA

South East Asian Economic Group

Related to Asia Relationship among ASEAN countries, people fully and harmony

44

South east Asian nation getting together for meeting South east Asians

Representing all S.E Asian Countries

South East Organization, consists of 10 countries

S.E Asia Union

South East Asian more Asia Country

SE country

Southeast ASEAN sort of Indonesian



SEA

Ten Asia country that represent Asia

SEA

The 10 nations in South east Asia

SEA

The Asian Countries

SEA ASSTOTION

The cooperation among Asian countries for development of economics and tourism

SEA COUNTRIES CONTAINED

The countries in Asia that inviting tourist to visit nice place

Sea including Indonesia

The Countries in Asia. Eg. Viet Nam, Philippines, Thailand, etc

Sea nation

The countries in South East Asia

Sea nation

The countries included in South East Asian region

SEA TOGETHER

The Group of countries in south east Asia

SEA WRITER


Share of everything that we know - the culture


Siaon


Similar to EU

The group of nations in south east Asia

SINGAPORE VIET NAM

MALAYSIA

THAILAND The group of nations in south east Asia

Signifies the value of money per a holiday trip

The Sport games

Some organization that represent Asia country

There are many Travelling Place and Exciting

Something like ASEAN Something under development South ASEAN Country South Asian country, they don’t have tax for their product, benefits for their country

These are several countries This countries signifies native of money for holiday trip Together Strong Trade group

South East Asia

Trade group

South East Asia

Trade group

South East Asia countries

Trade group and political association


Trade organization


Union of AS ASEAN Countries


UNITED

South East Asia countries Association

Unity and corporation in enermy nations

South East Asia organization

Vague

South east Asian

Very important to do Business Together

South East Asian

Very interesting

South east Asian countries

Very interesting people and very kind people

South east Asian countries organization

Well guide people pretty warm


45


B. APPENDIX 3: EFFECTIVENESS OF WEBSITES A representative sample of end-users (30 people) has compiled a questionnaire evaluating a number of features grouped in six main categories: 1. first impact (FI): the general feeling during a first scan, before an accurate visit of the site; 2. design and graphics (DG): the quality of graphical elements (pictures, symbols, photographs, etc.) and the balance between texts and images; 3. information contents (IC): the thoroughness and usefulness of information, the clarity of language; 4. interactivity and services (IS): the number and the quality of the interactive services and the tested user-friendliness of the functions; 5. structure and navigation (SN): the rationality of website structure and navigation aids; 6. technical management (TM): the updating of the contents, the response times and the absence of errors or missing links. The evaluation is qualitative, visitors express their appreciation of various website usability features by means of a score from 0 (minimum) to 5 (maximum) to each item of the list. Moreover, a mapping of the contents and services offered on the websites has been performed. The analysis has been accomplished by identifying a series of possible informational contents and interactive services that are considered useful or appealing for a user of a tourist website (Morrison et al., 2004; Rachman & Buchanan, 1999a, 1999b). The items list, comprising elements such as accurate geographical information, itinerary descriptions, interactive request forms, e-business functionalities, etc., is structured in four main groups:

informational contents (IN): information and documentation contents;

customer relationship (CR): contents and services that favour relationships with clients and visitors;

interactive services (SV): general interactive functions and services;

e-commerce (EB): commercial and e-business functions.

The evaluators are asked to check the existence of the items on the website under analysis and to assign a score (from 0 = minimum to 5 = maximum) taking into account the usability and the completeness of the single functionalities (Antonioli Corigliano & Baggio, 2004; Baggio, 2003). Moreover, combining the users evaluation and the contents average coverage it is possible to derive a general quality index defined as (Baggio, 2003): QUALITY INDEX = AVERAGE EVALUATION × CONTENTS COVERAGE The number of evaluators (i.e., the sample size) is an important element to derive a significant result from these assessments. Classical statistical procedures have well grounded methodologies for estimating the ideal size of a sample depending on the population parameters. The range is typically of the order of magnitude of 102 – 103. However, it has been shown (Antonioli Corigliano & Baggio, 2006) that the significance of this type of assessment can be quite satisfactory even employing a limited sample of evaluators. In fact, for the present case, 30 evaluators, the confidence interval for the results presented here can be estimated to be of around 5%. The websites considered in the present work are listed in the following table.

46



Websites considered for the present evaluation Site

URL

ASEAN-1

www.aseanta.org

ASEAN-2

www.asean-tourism.com

Singapore

www.visitsingapore.com

Malaysia

www.tourism.gov.my

Brunei

www.bruneitourism.travel

Thailand

www.tourismthailand.org

Philippines

www.wowphilippines.com.ph

Viet Nam

www.Viet Namtourism.com

Cambodia

www.tourismcambodia.com

Indonesia

www.budpar.go.id

Laos

www.tourismlaos.gov.la

Myanmar

www.hotel-tourism.gov.mm

Results The results of the evaluations and the assessment of the contents map are shown in the two figures below. The percent values (number of features present/expected) of the contents map have been rescaled to a 0-to-5 scale to ease the comparison.

Evaluation 5.0

4.0

3.0

2.0

1.0


Viet Nam

Thailand

Singapore

Philippines

Myanmar

Malaysia

Laos

Indonesia

Cambodia

Brunei

ASEAN-2

ASEAN-1

0.0

47


Contents map 5.0

4.0

3.0

2.0

1.0

The different types of contents (grouped as described above) are depicted in the figure below. In this, the two ASEAN websites are compared with those belonging to the national tourism organisations (NTO) of the ASEAN countries. The values for the NTOs are the arithmetic means of the values assessed. IN 1.0

0.5

EC

0.0

SV

CR

ASEAN-1

ASEAN-2

NTOs

Content types

48


Viet Nam

Thailand

Singapore

Philippines

Myanmar

Malaysia

Laos

Indonesia

Cambodia

Brunei

ASEAN-2

ASEAN-1

0.0


The combined quality index for the websites examined is shown in the figure below. Quality Index 5.0

4.0

3.0

2.0

1.0


Viet Nam

Thailand

Singapore

Philippines

Myanmar

Malaysia

Laos

Indonesia

Cambodia

Brunei

ASEAN-2

ASEAN-1

0.0

49


C. APPENDIX 4: ABOUT THE AUTHOR AND THE ORGANISATION Dr Noel Scott is a Lecturer in tourism at the University of Queensland’s School of Tourism. He has international consulting experience in tourism in Fiji, China and Portugal and has been an international guest speaker at tourism fora in Fiji, Korea, Malaysia and Tonga. He regularly contributes to respected journals such as International Journal of Tourism Research, Journal of Vacation Marketing, Tourism Recreation Research, Journal of Travel and Tourism Marketing, Journal of Quality Assurance in Hospitality and Tourism, and Journal of Teaching in Travel and Tourism. From 1994 to 2000 Dr Scott was Strategic Services Manager at Tourism Queensland during which time Queensland moved to a research based, strategic destination management approach to tourism marketing, qualitatively similar to the ASEAN tourism context. (Queensland contains five significant developed tourism destinations - such as Cairns and the Gold Coast - and several developing destinations.) This experience has led to a number of themes in Dr Scott’s recent tourism research including the need to establish synergy in branding within and between tourism destinations, the importance of a research or knowledge based approach, the need to understand the network of key stakeholders that drive tourism destinations and the importance of understanding market trends and new product opportunities. UniQuest Pty Limited was incorporated in 1984 and is wholly owned by the University of Queensland. It has completed over 250 international development projects in over 30 countries, including all ten ASEAN Member Countries. The company’s other AADCP experience includes:

50

AADCP-RPS Capacity Building for an ASEAN Mutual Recognition Arrangement in Tourism (current) AADCP-PS Enhanced Customs Capacity Building Projects (current) AADCP-PS Enabling ASEAN – Institutional Strengthening for ASEAN Secretariat (current) AADCP-PS Technical Assistance Linkages and Training Facility Design AADCP-RPS Developing ASEAN Common Competency Standards for Tourism Professionals (completed) AADCP-RPS Development of Evaluation Framework and Impact Assessment Tools for ASEAN COST Programs and Projects (completed) ASEAN-PS Project Design Support Program (completed) AADCP-PS Design Missions II, III and IV (completed) AADCP-PS Scoping Mission for Free Trade Agreement Facility, Technical Assistance Linkages and Training Facility and Small and Medium Enterprise Project (completed) AADCP-PS Zoonotics Project Scoping Mission (completed)
