Tourism is a priority sector in the South Asia Subregional Economic Cooperation (SASEC) program. At its second annual meeting, the SASEC Tourism Working Group (TWG) identified the preparation of a subregional tourism masterplan as a priority and requested support from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to prepare the plan. TWG refined this request at its third meeting, agreeing that it should be a subregional Tourism Development Plan (TDP or “the Plan”), and that it should build upon existing tourism plans in each of the four SASEC countries: Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal. TWG also agreed that the Plan should establish a thematic framework for future tourism development, and that planning should start with two common themes: Ecotourism based on Natural and Cultural Heritage, and Buddhist Circuits.
This TDP is the result of ADB technical assistance (TA) implemented through an internationally recruited planning team working in close cooperation with the tourism ministries and national tourism organizations (NTOs) of the four SASEC countries. The Planning Team’s methodology emphasized in-country consultations with stakeholders at national workshops aimed at understanding individual tourism development agendas. Macro-level subregional analysis was also undertaken. The resulting ideas were consolidated, and then discussed with TWG and prospective development partners at a subregional workshop during the fourth meeting of TWG at Thimphu in Bhutan on 26 May 2004. TWG and development partners contributed to the programs and projects outlined in the TDP. The Thimphu workshop strongly endorsed the overall strategic directions and the specific projects in the Plan. The TDP presents profiles of existing tourism patterns and the future tourism development agendas of the four countries. It then proposes core strategic directions for TWG that will build upon and add value to the national agendas. The core strategic directions include (i) tourism that is sustainable and contributes to the reduction of poverty, (ii) branding that focuses on SASEC’s products and not on the SASEC subregion itself, (iii) initiation of joint marketing before the introduction of measures to ensure product quality, (iv) repositioning the subregion as a touristfriendly destination, (v) facilitating the development of a more competitive tourism industry, and (vi) improving tourism links with neighboring countries. With these strategic directions in mind, TWG will embark on its own agenda of subregional activities. In the future, TWG will be open to the introduction by any interested stakeholder of new activities into the agenda.
Contributor: Lisa Choegyal Les Clark, Department of Tourism, Bhutan Department of Tourism, India Nepal Tourism Board
Publisher : Asian Development Bank
Date of Published: December 2004
Language : English
Publication Stock No. 111304:
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