ASEAN seeks to promote Southeast Asia as a single, seamless, and high-quality destination through data-driven, audience-centered, and digitally enabled regional marketing initiatives. Photo credit: ADB.
The ASEAN Tourism Sectoral Plan 2026–2030 is anchored on five focus areas: resilient tourism, empowered tourism workforce, accessible and seamless travel, digital transformation, and sustainable tourism.
Tourism is a cornerstone of Southeast Asia’s economic growth, supporting millions of livelihoods and fostering closer regional cooperation. According to the World Travel & Tourism Council, the tourism sector’s contribution to the region’s GDP stood at $374 billion in 2024, equivalent to 9.4% of the combined GDP of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
To build on this momentum while charting a path for a more sustainable, inclusive, and resilient tourism in the region, a new ASEAN Tourism Sectoral Plan (ATSP) 2026–2030 was developed. The new ATSP reflects several emerging trends—including the rise of regenerative tourism, expansion of intra-regional travel, new traveler segments, technological innovations, and environmental challenges—that are reshaping ASEAN’s tourism agenda post-2025.
Drawing from the ASEAN Economic Community Strategic Plan 2026–2030 and aligned with the ASEAN Community Vision 2045, the ATSP is anchored on five focus areas: resilient tourism, empowered tourism workforce, accessible and seamless travel, digital transformation, and sustainable tourism.
Resilient tourism
1. Resilient tourism entails building systems that withstand shocks while continuing to generate revenue, attract investments, and support businesses. Underpinned by the ASEAN Tourism Marketing Strategy (ATMS) 2026–2030, countries will institutionalize coordination, build crisis capability through training, and integrate preparedness into education and certification.
2. ADB’s assistance to Southeast Asian developing member countries played a critical role in fostering the region’s recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. More recently, ADB’s support for the new ATMS 2026–2030 will help ensure that ASEAN’s diverse and high-quality tourism offerings are effectively communicated to global and regional markets.
3. ADB also facilitates coordination in the tourism sector between ASEAN and three subregional programs: Brunei Darussalam–Indonesia–Malaysia–Philippines East ASEAN Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA), Indonesia–Malaysia–Thailand Growth Triangle (IMT-GT), and Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Economic Cooperation Program. As the secretariat of the GMS and regional advisor of BIMP-EAGA and IMT-GT, ADB promotes strengthened collaboration and strategic alignment in tourism.
Empowerment of tourism workforce
4. Under the new tourism plan, countries have committed to addressing critical skills gaps and strengthening recognition and certification systems—by advancing professional mobility through mutual recognition, alignment with international and regional competency standards, regional training collaboration, and workforce exchanges—while expanding access to women, youth, persons with disabilities, and those in the informal sector.
5. ADB has been supporting tourism training programs across Southeast Asia to improve the quality of services at several of the region’s top destinations. These include a program on alternative accommodations, which serves as an important part of Southeast Asia’s tourism ecosystem. Supported by the ADB BIMP-EAGA, IMT-GT, and GMS or “B-I-G” Capacity Building Program, mid- and senior tourism officials received training in formulating policies that strengthen alternative accommodations registration and licensing, raise safety and quality standards, and promote fair competition and taxation in support of local economic development.
Accessible and seamless travel
6. To advance ASEAN’s vision of a single tourism destination, better connectivity, facilitation, and accessibility are needed to allow travelers to move more freely and confidently across borders while ensuring benefits reach all countries, including secondary and emerging destinations.
7. In the GMS, ADB’s investments have been instrumental in boosting connectivity and tourism in the subregion. Economic corridor infrastructure development projects have supported cross-border mobility between Cambodia, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR), Thailand, and Viet Nam.
Digital tourism, product, and market diversification
8. Digitalization is making travel more convenient, personalized, and data-driven. ASEAN countries are seeking to harness digital transformation, product diversification, and coordinated marketing to strengthen the region’s global identity while ensuring benefits flow to micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), communities, and secondary destinations.
9. ADB has provided support to its developing member countries in leveraging digitalization for smart tourism through technical assistance, policy advice, and knowledge. ADB recently co-published a report with the World Tourism Organization that examines trends, challenges, and opportunities in the use of big data in tourism. ADB also produced a policy brief on how technology integration can benefit the tourism sector through multiple uses, such as e-visas, smart waste management, and cashless payments.
Sustainable tourism
10. Preserving ASEAN’s natural and cultural assets while ensuring broad-based benefits lies at the heart of sustainable tourism. Under the plan, countries have agreed to promote sustainable practices across planning and operations, encourage enterprises to adopt internationally recognized certifications, and strengthen community participation in destination management.
11. Established by ADB in 2022, the Southeast Asia Sustainable Tourism Facility helps ASEAN countries prepare sustainable tourism projects and catalyze financing to support them. It supports regional priorities to reinvigorate tourism, develop green and resilient urban and transport infrastructure in secondary cities, accelerate inclusive digital transformations, and mobilize domestic resources.
12. At the January 2026 ASEAN Tourism Conference, ADB announced a pipeline of over $3 billion in investments in Southeast Asia through 2030. To date, ADB has mobilized an estimated $4.7 billion in tourism and tourism-related financing in the region since the early 2000s. Future ADB support includes the preparation of the Tourism Infrastructure for Inclusive and Resilient Growth in Cambodia, GMS Smart and Sustainable Tourism Infrastructure for Inclusive Growth Project in the Lao PDR, and the Lao Cai Sustainable Urban and Infrastructure Development Project in Viet Nam.
Looking ahead, the region is expected to receive 187 million tourist arrivals by 2030—capturing 10.3% of global arrivals. The bright prospects for ASEAN highlight the importance of further enhancing regional cooperation to fully realize its potential of becoming a global leader in quality and high-value tourism by 2045.
