The Asian Development Bank (ADB) launched the Southeast Asia Sustainable Tourism Hub at the third Southeast Asia Development Symposium (SEADS) held on 16–17 March 2022.

The tourism hub aims to help accelerate the industry's recovery from the pandemic, boost inclusive, sustainable development in the sector, and help local tourism entrepreneurs, especially women and youth, adopt digital platforms to grow their businesses.

Southeast Asian's tourism industry was among the hardest hit by the pandemic, as arrivals plunged by 82% in 2020, forcing many travel businesses to close shop and millions to lose jobs.

Last year, ADB established a $1.7 million technical assistance facility to help revive the industry. The facility will help countries identify and prepare environmentally sustainable tourism projects and catalyze private financing to support them. It will help businesses better operate tourism facilities and deliver digital tourism services. It will also help policy makers design visa, online short-term rental, and other policies to attract longer-staying, higher-spending visitors and remote workers, allow more small entrepreneurs to legitimately operate accommodation services, and boost tourism tax revenues. The tourism hub is housed on the SEADS website.