For all the chatter and plans unveiled at the ASEAN Tourism Forum held in Manila earlier this month, nowhere did the Internet feature, or any discussion on the impact of the web on travel.
The silence on the topic was staggering – aside from the Malaysian national tourist office (NTO) press briefing – the Internet did not warrant a mention.
A spokesperson for the NTO explained that Tourism Malaysia’s marketing budget has been slashed for the coming year, an inevitable result of the steep devaluation of the ringgit. The plan was thin on details but the message delivered was that the country is embracing digital channels to face off its budget woes.
A warm welcome for the delegates of the ASEAN Tourism Forum 2016
This is not to say discussions on boosting the region’s digital infrastructure are not taking place – they just don’t appear to be taking place amongst the leaders of the travel industry.
This seems surprising, given the 10-nation bloc that make up ASEAN has perhaps one of the world’s youngest populations – 50% are below the age of 30 – making it one of the world’s fastest growing generation of netizens.
One of the challenges, I suspect, is the varying level of digital infrastructure within the ASEAN economic community (AEC). While Singapore leads the region (and the world) with an average Internet speed of 118.8 Mbps, countries like the Philippines lag far behind with only 3.6 Mbps. Sending a large file over email can take hours, as I learnt the hard way when reporting from Manila.
A TechInAsia report cited data that found that while Singapore’s fixed line speeds have nearly doubled in a year, the Philippines had only made marginal improvements in the same time with a negligible improvement of 6%.
From what I gleaned, the AEC has yet to adopt a cohesive strategy on the Internet and its role in tourism. As long as NTOs continue to view digital channels as a budget option, any discussion on the role of the web in travel will falter.
