Daily 12 March/März - ITB Berlin

XVI Friday 12 March ITB Berlin English Daily 2010
Equator Asia comes to life
‘Equator Asia’ has been adopted as the new marketing name for the special economic
region which includes Southern Philippines, East Malaysia and Indonesia’s Kalimantan,
the islands of Celebes, Moluccas and Papua. Officially, the region is known as BIMP-
EAGA – an acronym that has proved far too complicated and unmemorable for a
tourism destination. But, with the help of Germany’s Federal Ministry for Co-operation
and Development, the region will now be rebranded and marketed as ‘Equator Asia’.
For Peter Richter, BIMP-EAGA’s principal adviser in charge of the promotion of economic
co-operation, the brand ‘Equator Asia’ has the dual advantage of both defining the area
geographically and also giving it an aura of mystery and exoticism.
‘Equator Asia’ will try to convey an image of another Asia, linked to biodiversity and
environment. The slogan ‘the heart of biodiversity to the world’ has been chosen as the
region has some of the best-preserved rainforests on earth, offering unique flora and
fauna, says the team behind the project. A website (www.equator-asia.com) will be fully
operational before the end of 2010.
The BIMP-EAGA member countries have agreed to improve access to the region, and
are encouraging airlines to offer international flights between the largest cities of
‘Equator Asia’. Malaysia Airlines is likely to use its regional subsidiary MASwings to link
Kuching and Kota Kinabalu (East Malaysia) with Pontianak and Balikpapan in Indonesia,
and Davao and Zamboanga in the Philippines and with Brunei.
Malaysia happy with its 2009 performance
No Minister of Tourism would miss the opportunity of coming to ITB to support its
tourism industry, and Dato Yen Yen Ng, Malaysia’s current Tourism Minister, is no
exception. She told ITB delegates on the opening day that she is very satisfied with
Malaysia’s 2009 performance. Despite the economic crisis, she said, the country
recorded the best performance of any ASEAN country, with the exception of Myanmar.
Malaysia welcomed 22.7 million tourist arrivals in 2009, an impressive increase of 7.2%.
Regional markets contributed the bulk of visitors with Singapore alone representing
12.7 million arrivals, followed by Indonesia (2.4 million) and Thailand (1.5 million).
“This result is due to our efforts in aggressively promoting Malaysia as one of the preferred
holiday destinations in the region. I am also very pleased to see that China broke
the one million mark for the first time,” said the Minister.
Malaysia will continue to use its slogan ‘Malaysia, Truly Asia’ this year, but it has added
the tag line ‘It’s all here’ to emphasise the diversity of landscape, culture and food to be
experienced. Tourism Malaysia is also focusing on more high-end tourists, developing
niche products such as health tourism, homestays and second homes.
The Health Ministry of Malaysia launched a new logo ‘Malaysia Healthcare’ last year,
together with a website to promote medical tourism, drawing attention to the quality of
the facilities offered by Malaysian healthcare and to the wide range of treatment
options. Thirty-six private hospitals in the country have been selected to promote the