In the capital of Brunei, Bandar Seri Begawan – it means, in one translation, ‘The place of the revered old’ – the idea of promoting tourism was discussed among the MEAN members.
Finding out who they were was not easy but MEAN has ten members – Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.) And note, in this connection, Plus 3 adds Asian members, China, Japan and Korea.
Sheikh Jamaluddin Sheikh Mohamed, Brunei Tourism chief executive officer, said that working with dialogue partners in promoting the member countries as a single tourist destination was a two-way exchange. He said, "We can’t expect to ask China, Japan and Korea to send their tourists to us, without giving anything back. So it is cooperation in both ways."
Brudirect.com reported Soo Siew Keong, director of Singapore Tourism Board’s International Group, noted that China is a "huge, fast growing source market" with the potential to become one of the top outbound tourists in the world.
