Background

The Second BIMSTEC Ministerial Meeting held on 18-19 December 1998 in Dhaka identified tourism as one of the first six areas of cooperation in BIMSTEC. The First BIMSTEC Summit emphasized the need for joint marketing of tourism packages, exchange of visits, and sharing of information as well as tourism promotion in the BIMSTEC region. The leaders in the Second BIMSTEC Summit agreed to harness the region’s natural, cultural and historical endowments in order to enhance intra-BIMSTEC tourism as well as tourism from other countries. The Third BIMSTEC Summit encouraged the Member States to realize the enormous tourism potential of the region by enhancing cooperation in this field, particularly through facilitating engagements among the private sector in the Member States. The leaders at the Goa Retreat recognized the rich potential for the development of tourism and reiterated their keen interest in taking concrete steps to promote intra-BIMSTEC tourism including specialized tourist circuits and eco-tourism. In particular, the leaders encouraged the development of the Buddhist Tourist Circuit and Temple Tourist Circuit within the region.

The leaders in the Fourth BIMSTEC Summit agreed to take concrete steps to promote intra-BIMSTEC tourism; task the relevant authorities to devise strategies considering the emerging opportunities and building on the past initiatives including the “Plan of Action for Tourism Development and Promotion for the BIMSTEC Region”. They further agreed to take concrete measures to facilitate tourism by ensuring the safety and security of tourists, and smooth transport connectivity. They reaffirmed their commitment to developing and promoting Buddhist Tourist Circuit, Temple Tourist Circuit, ancient cities trail, eco-tourism, and medical tourism. 

The First Roundtable and Workshop of Tourism Ministers held on 23 February 2005 in Kolkata, India prepared the Plan of Action for Tourism Development and Promotion, and the Second BIMSTEC Tourism Ministers’ Roundtable and Workshop held on 29 August 2006 in Kathmandu, Nepal adopted it. Similarly, the First Meeting of the BIMSTEC Working Group on Tourism held on 23 September 2013 in New Delhi decided to set up the Tourism Fund with a one-time contribution by each Member State which will be supporting the activities approved by the Tourism Working Group. The BIMSTEC Tourism Fund is being administrated by India. In addition, the First Meeting of Network of Tour Operators held on 07 July 2017in New Delhi, India  and the Second Meeting of Network of Tour Operators held virtually on 08-09 December 2020 in Colombo, Sri Lanka made recommendations including common marketing strategy i.e. the creation of a BIMSTEC brand for tourism, a common website for promotion, annual BIMSTEC Travel Mart/Conclave, Public-Private Partnership for promotion of Tourism, BIMSTEC Annual Convention on Tourism, including a common safety protocols for adventure tourism etc.

During the Seventeenth BIMSTEC Ministerial Meeting, the Ministers reiterated that the tourism and hospitality industry in the BIMSTEC region has been severely hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Ministers called upon the Member States to implement the Plan of Action for Tourism Development and Promotion for the BIMSTEC Region to facilitate intra-regional tourism. They also encouraged the holding of the Second Meeting of the BIMSTEC Working Group on Tourism and the Third BIMSTEC Tourism Ministers’ Roundtable. They further encouraged the tourism entrepreneurs including tour and trekking operators to hold interactions and meetings with a view to enhancing cooperation and coordination among themselves.

A study report titled “Leveraging Thematic Circuits for BIMSTEC Tourism Development” was published in December, 2022 outlining the short-, medium- and long-term recommendations for revival and development of tourism sector in the region.

The Nineteenth BIMSTEC Ministerial Meeting held virtually on 09 March 2023 in Bangkok, Thailand, reaffirmed the significance of the tourism sector in reinforcing the historical, cultural and economic synergies in the region and encouraged the Member States for early finalization of the Plan of Action on Development and Promotion of tourism including the early functioning of BIMSTEC Tourism Information Centre and utilization of the BIMSTEC Tourism Fund.
Nepal, as the Lead Country of ‘Tourism’ has circulated a draft of “Plan of Action on Tourism” updating on the earlier plans, which has to be discussed and finalized during the upcoming meetings of tourism Sub-sector.

Institutional Mechanism

i.    BIMSTEC Tourism Ministers’ Roundtable and Workshop
The Ministerial Meeting comprises the Ministers dealing with tourism sector of the Member States. It has met two times.

ii.    BIMSTEC Senior Official’s Meeting on Tourism
The Senior Officials’ Meeting comprises of the Secretaries/ appropriate Senior officials of BIMSTEC Member States dealing with tourism sector.  The Sector Officials’ Meeting on Tourism held before the BIMSTEC Tourism Ministers’ Roundtable.

iii.    BIMSTEC Working Group Meeting on Tourism 
The Working Committee Meeting comprises senior officials of the Member States dealing the tourism sector. The Working Group decides on the programme priorities, expenditure of BIMSTEC Tourism Fund, preparation of concrete proposals and to follow up the progress on the Plan of Action. 
Accordingly, the First Meeting of BIMSTEC Tourism Working Group held in New Delhi, India on 23 September 2013 decided to set up the Tourism Fund with one-time contribution of US$ 10,000.00 by each Member State which will be supporting the activities approved by the Tourism Working Group. The BIMSTEC Tourism Fund is currently being administrated by the BIMSTEC Information Centre in India.

iv.    Network of Tour Operators

BIMSTEC Network of Tour Operators consists of representatives of national tourism organizations and private stakeholders of tourism industries from all Member States. This mechanism promotes tourism, implements plan of action and coordinates to operate BIMSTEC tourism circuits.

The 17th Session of the BIMSTEC Senior Officials Meeting (SOM) held in Kathmandu, Nepal on 07 February 2017 agreed to create a Network of Tour Operators among the BIMSTEC Member States to promote tourism in the region including the Buddhist Tourist Circuit and luxury cruise.

Accordingly, the First Meeting of BIMSTEC Network of Tour Operators (BNTO) was held on 07 July 2017 in New Delhi, India which made some of the important recommendations including preparation of a common marketing strategy such as creation of a BIMSTEC brand for tourism, developing a common website for tourism promotion, holding annual BIMSTEC Travel Mart/Conclave, developing and sharing a common safety protocols for adventure tourism, enhancing Public-Private Partnership for promotion of Tourism in BIMSTEC region and holding BIMSTEC Annual Convention on Tourism. 

BIMSTEC Tourism Conclave was proposed by Nepal to be held in Kathmandu in 2020 with coinciding with the Visit Nepal Year 2020 but it was postponed due to COVID-19.

The Second Meeting of BIMSTEC Network of Tour Operators (BNTOO) was held virtually on 08-09 December in Colombo, Sri Lanka decided to form a committee for preparing an action plan on BIMSTEC Brand of Tourism and the modalities of utilization of BIMSTEC Tourism Fund and recommended to select at least one heritage site from each Member State as well as explore other possible destinations to include in the Circuits and also promote holistic tourism. To form the committee, each Member State will convey the nomination of two Nodal Officers, one from the Government and one from the Tour Operators for the Committee to the Secretariat within 31 December 2020, where the names for the Committee from the Member States were received and sent to India. 
 

Key Documents
No Documents 

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