Unified Asean visa will boost PH tourism

TOURISM stakeholders back the move for the 10 member-countries of the Association of South East Asian Nations (Asean) to create a unified Asean visa.

But they said making sure the Philippines will be in the itenerary of tourists will be a challenge.

Cebu Business Club president Gordon Allan Joseph said the initiative of implementing a unified Asean visa is a “very good move” to develop the tourist arrivals in the country. He pointed out that this is similar to Europe’s Schengen visa, which made
traveling for residents of 25 member-countries easier and less bureaucratic.

“This is a very good move…but the challenge now will be to ensure that they also put the Philippines in their itineraries,” Joseph said.

The Department of Tourism (DOT) earlier announced its strong support for the creation of a unified Asean visa saying that this would make travel within the Asean region easier and boost inter-region tourism.

“The Philippines is one of the countries working hard for a unified Asean visa,” said Tourism Secretary Ramon Jimenez Jr.

He reported five countries–Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam –are ready to implement the single visa. Jimenez said the scheme could initially be implemented with the participation of a majority of the 10-nation bloc.

Other members of Asean are Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR and Myanmar.

According to Joseph, the country should “liberalize even further” its tourist visa practices since part of the initiative is the modernization and streamlining of visa application processing.

“Let’s do everything we can to bring in the tourists from convenient visa and renewals, to deeper culture of tourism,” he said.

Jonathan Jay Aldeguer, president of the Islands Group of Companies, also said the creation of a single visa among Asean-member countries is one effective measure to boost trade and tourism revenues.

“Anything that would make travel to the Philippines seamless and hassle-free would be greatly advantageous to us (tourism industry),” said Aldeguer. He said the impact will trickle down to country’s secondary gateways like Cebu and other neighboring islands.

Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI) president Prudencio Gesta and CCCI tourism committee chairperson Milagros Espina also support the initiative stressing that this would make travel more comfortable and convenient.

“This will benefit Cebu considering that we have a good number of direct flights.

This (initiative) is traveler-friendly and could me more economical,” Espina said.

The Hotel, Resort & Restaurant Association of Cebu (HRRAC) also believes the issuance of a unified Asean visa would be a definite advantage as it markets the entire Asean-member countries as a single-bloc destination.

HRRAC president Hans Hauri said the key to successful implementation of a single visa is the coordination of security checks that each country undertakes before issuing a visa. He cited the best model so far is Europe’s Schengen visa, where one central computer gives access to relevant information.

Sourced: sunstar