Bangkok--18 Jun--Ministry of Tourism and Sports
Ministry of Tourism and Sports together with Nakhon Phanom Province and Mekong Tourism Coordinating Office (MTCO) is hosting Mekong Tourism Forum 2018 (MTF 2018) to provide a forum for members to discuss tourism issues and the event will be held from June 25th - 29th 2018, in Nakhon Phanom province, held under the theme "Transforming Travel Transforming Lives".
H.E. Mr. Weerasak Kowsurat, Minister of Tourism and Sports presided over the Press Conference for hosting Mekong Tourism Forum 2018 (MTF 2018) said, " Mekong Tourism Forum 2018 (MTF 2018) is the annual meeting forum for the Greater Mekong Subregion tourism industry specialists. Consisting of 6 member countries; Cambodia, China (Yunnan Province and Guangxi Autonomous Region) Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and the Vietnam, where the topic of discussion would include market development and tourism promotion. It also offers positive opportunities to encourage the participation of the public and private sectors in transforming tourism of GMS member countries into one single destination. In addition, such a meeting will give the opportunity for participants to experience tourism in emerging destinations as well as tourism trends in the Greater Mekong (GMS). It is expected that more than 500 exhibitors from the tourism industry of the member countries, stakeholders, foreign and domestic investors.
The Mekong Tourism Forum 2018 will be divided into two major events:
1. The 41st Tourism Working Group Meeting (TWG-41) will be held on 25th June 2018, which is a meeting between member countries together with Mekong Tourism Coordinating Office (MTCO), and Asian Development Bank (ADB) representatives to discuss tourism situation of member countries in the past year as well as planning and policy for the coming year. This includes, the progress implementations of The Grater Mekong Subregion Tourism Strategic Plan 2015-2025, Grater Mekong Subregion Tourism Marketing Strategy Plan 2015-2020 and the Greater Mekong Subregion Tourism Work Plan in 2018 according to the key issues to be promoted in the next phase.
2. Mekong Tourism Forum (MTF 2018) from 26th - 29th June 2018. There will be two major activities: 1) Mekong Innovative Startups in Tourism (MIST), which will introduce new tourism innovations of MIST both old and new members to stakeholders in the industry, 2) Mekong Mini Movie Festival, which will be held for the first time ever. There will be a seminar on "Film & Destination Marketing Conference" and short film contest Mekong Minis 60 seconds. The aim is to make the movie inspire millions of people to visit various places in the Mekong subregion.
For Thailand, this stage will announce the readiness to be a leader in Buddhist tourism of ASEAN and South Asia. Thailand will propose the creation of the ASEAN-South Asia Buddhist Tourism Story Book, and will seek member countries to support this project, as well as a forum event inviting the experts and experienced Buddhist tourism keynote speakers to the conference held under the theme " Buddhist Tourism in the Mekong Region"