The ASEAN Travel Association (ASEANTA), in partnership with the ASEAN National Tourism Organizations, will launch a new destination marketing campaign for the region branded “Southeast Asia: Feel the Warmth.” While Southeast Asia will be the destination brand, ASEAN will be co-branded as a sponsor organization for the campaign.

In January this year at the ASEAN Tourism Forum in Hanoi, Vietnam, ASEANTA signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the ASEAN Competitiveness Enhancement (ACE) Project of the United States Agency for International Development/Regional Development Mission Asia (USAID/RDMA).  Objective of the MOU is to promote Southeast Asia as a premier travel destination to rival such regions as Europe, the Caribbean and the South Pacific.

The destination marketing strategy, developed by ACE in partnership with ASEANTA, was unanimously endorsed by the ASEANTA Board.

ASEANTA President and PAL vice president for marketing support Felix J. Cruz said: “This strategy will be a great success if we are able to increase public awareness of ASEAN through the website, encourage travelers to visit the region and better, if they visit not just one destination but to include another in their plans.”

The strategy seeks to maximize the effectiveness of a finite marketing budget by leveraging global familiarity with the regional destination brand “Southeast Asia” to promote the region as a premier travel destination. This is expected to lead to wider exposure for ASEAN and its goals to people who may not otherwise have heard of it.

Southeast-Asia.com, the online hub for the campaign, will be clearly branded official website of ASEAN and ASEANTA and offer hyperlinks to both organizations. The website will encourage people to visit the region and help them plan and book travel itineraries – comprising flights, hotels, tours, etc – that take in more than one ASEAN-member nation.

Currently under development, the website is being set up to benefit any large or small supplier of ASEAN travel and tourism products that has a searchable web presence. For private-sector stakeholders that have yet to market themselves online, ACE and ASEANTA will provide opportunities, information and tools to help them take that step.

The regional marketing strategy, web development, campaign, and technical assistance is all part of the ACE Project’s mandate to help boost ASEAN’s regional tourism competitiveness. The Project is also assisting the textile and apparel sector. ACE is one of four projects under USAID/RDMA’s ADVANCE program, which is assisting the establishment of an ASEAN Community by 2015.