The ASEAN Tourism Forum (ATF) will be held in Laos next year and the event will focus on aspects like sustainability, digitalization, and labor shortage to improve the tourism industry in Southeast Asia.

TTG Weekly reports that ASEAN Tourism Association (ASEANTA) has been selected to organize the Travel Exchange (TRAVEX), a regional marketplace and fair for ASEAN country members at the Lao-ITECC Exhibition Centre in Vientiane Capital during the ATF.

To this effect, a Memorandum of Understanding was also signed between the Lao Ministry of Information, Culture, and Tourism (MICT), and the ASEAN Tourism Association (ASEANTA), appointing the latter to organize Travex for ATF 2024.

The ASEAN Tourism Forum will be held in Vientiane Capital on 22-27 January 2024 under the theme, “Quality and Responsible Tourism: Sustaining ASEAN’s Future.” The event has been touted by organizers as ‘an event by the industry, for the industry’.

“ATF 2024 will be an event by the industry, for the industry. We are harnessing the collective creativity of the ASEAN tourism community as a whole,” said Mr. Eddy Soemawilaga, ASEAN Tourism Association President.

“ATF will leverage stronger education conference sessions to raise human capital development as the manpower shortage becomes a glaring issue. Technology, too, will be a core component in an era of sustainability,” he stated.

Lao Tourism Marketing Department under the Ministry of Information expects to welcome about 350 businesses from across Southeast Asia and 200 visitors to the event in 2024.