Asean countries urged to further improve visa processes

MANILA, Philippines - Member-countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), including the Philippines, are being urged to further improve their visa processes.

In a recent report, the World Tourism Organization (WTO) and the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) said improving visa processes in the ASEAN countries could generate an extra six to 10 million visitors by 2016. 

The two global travel groups also noted that based on the Impact of Visa Facilitation in ASEAN Member States, the region is one of the most open in the world in terms of tourist visa requirements. 

“Collaboration between countries and recent advances across the region to facilitate visas, including progressive approaches to implement new visa policies, have proven very successful. This collaboration forms part of joint efforts to improve social integration within the region and to grow the national and regional travel and tourism sectors, resulting in increased investment in the sector and consequently job creation,” they said.

Despite these achievements, there are still areas for further improvement, they added. 

According to the report, ASEAN stands to gain six to 10 million additional international tourist arrivals by 2016 from improved visa facilitation. 

The additional receipts generated by these tourists could reach between $7 billion and $12 billion. 

Moreover, the total number of jobs created as a consequence of this increase is estimated to range from 333,000 to 654,000.

WTTC vice president of government and industry affairs Helen Marano presented the report to the ATF 2014 National Tourism Organizations (NTOs) and highlighted how the leaders at the 2011 ASEAN Summit in Jakarta, Indonesia agreed to cooperate on an ASEAN Common Visa Initiative, engaging the tourism and other appropriate ministries for accomplishing this aspiration.

WTO Secretary-General Taleb Rifai said, “I would like to commend ASEAN leaders for their vision in making travel facilitation a priority in advancing regional integration and economic development in ASEAN and call upon them to continue supporting this important agenda.” 

“Indeed, although ASEAN is one of the most open regions in terms of tourist visas, this report clearly opens the opportunity to further promote easier visa policies as a means to generate economic growth, job creation and regional integration through tourism in the ASEAN economies,” he added.

For his part, WTTC president and CEO David Scowsill said, “Encouraging freedom to travel is a key strategic priority for WTTC. Although the ASEAN countries already collaborate to encourage a better experience for the traveler, there is still more to do and greater economic benefits to be gained, as this report demonstrates.”

Scowsill zeroed in on having better visa processes, which can reap immense economic benefits with increased tourism demand, tourist spending and job creation. 

“Most importantly, better policies open the doors for better cross-cultural understanding,” he said.

In spite of the great strides made in the recent decades to facilitate tourist travel all over the world, Scowsill said there are still important areas of opportunity, including maximizing the use of information and communication technologies in improving visa procedures.

“Further opportunities include improving the delivery of information, facilitating current processes to obtain visas, differentiated treatment to facilitate tourist travel, instituting e-visa program, and regional agreements for visa facilitation,” he said.