OUM
Westports Maritime
Public Bank

June 01, 2009 11:42 AM

EAGA Being Primed As "Equator Asia" In Tourism Focus

KOTA KINABALU, June 1 (Bernama)-- As a tourism focus, the Brunei Darussalam-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East ASEAN Growth Area(BIMP-EAGA) needs a better push.

In this respect, key tourism players in the sub-region who gathered in Labuan recently for the 6th BIMP-EAGA Joint Tourism Development (JTD) cluster meeting, have given it a new branding, "Equator Asia".

The tourism branding is the result of a German Technical Cooperation branding report.

It was adopted by the participating BIMP-EAGA tourism players, who agreed to undertake further initiatives such as consultations and promoting the Equator Asia name, among product sellers for a stronger brand ownership.

A statement by the Mindanao Economic Development Council (MEDCo), here said that a branding task force would explore alternative taglines to support the main brand and highlight the EAGA's biodiversity as its "brand essence".

Marketing and promotions will also zero in on the sub-region's Culture, Adventure and Nature (CAN) tourism.

The BIMP-EAGA Tourism Council (BETC) reported during the meeting that the brand name had already gained acceptance in previous discussions and at a ecotourism gathering in Indonesia.

The BETC also reported that the brand name had gained appeal at the recent Japan Association of Travel Agents (JATA) Fair 2008, where some EAGA tourism players participated.

Meanwhile, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) also confirmed at the meeting that it would provide technical assistance in preparing an ecotourism roadmap, that would guide community-based ecotourism (CBET) development and promotion in the EAGA.

The ADB will also assist stakeholders in preparing specific action plans to implement two CBET pilot projects for each EAGA member country.

The BIMP-EAGA had also recently adopted CBET development as a strategy to intensify partnerships among local governments and communities, as a means of addressing rural poverty.

The meeting in Labuan urged the implementation of a unified tourism promotion and marketing program for the BIMP-EAGA.

This is in view of the participation of tourism players in international events, in organising and promoting EAGA signature events and the packaging and promotion of EAGA tours as priority activities.

The signature events include the various international tourism events,expositions and fairs that would be organised and participated by BIMP-EAGA member countries through the ASEAN Tourism Forum (ATF) 2010 in Brunei Darussalam.

The meeting also encouraged the promotion of cruise tourism by EAGA member countries, to take advantage of cruise ships coming from Japan and Korea.

The BETC has also proposed that Brunei Darussalam promote a yacht rally in the BIMP-EAGA as one of its signature events to link all four members.

This event would support the existing Borneo International Yachting Challenge (BIYC).

The cluster also recommended an improvement in the service and quality standards of EAGA tourism establishments through capacity building activities and the benchmarking of ecotourism standards.

During the recent 5th BIMP-EAGA Leaders Summit in Thailand, Tourism Ministers emphasised the need to deepen ownership of the roadmap priority projects by the BIMP-EAGA LGUs (Local Government Units), communities, and private sector to sustain the significant gains particularly in tourism development.

-- BERNAMA

We provide (subscription-based) 
news coverage in our Newswire service.