“ASEAN is currently developing a travel corridor, finalizing many of the elements included in it, and we hope that the leaders will approve this solution… So we’re working on it, hopefully by the top of the 12 months it’ll be approved by the leaders,” Lim said in the course of the virtual fifth ASEAN. ASEAN Media Forum.
Plenty of ASEAN member countries have imposed lockdowns and travel restrictions to stop the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
Lim said there are lots of areas that should be addressed, regionally or bilaterally, in order to not jeopardize each member country’s protocol.
“So we hope that by the end of the year we will have a framework agreement among ASEAN member states and we will be able to implement it in accordance with each country’s protocol,” he added.
He went on to say that it is rather necessary that we “follow these protocols to be sure that we’re in a position to bring people back to their countries easily and safely.”
Lim noted that this can help the tourism industry within the region.
“More importantly for the future, we are working for tourism, for travelers, because it is important for ASEAN member states, especially since tourism’s contribution to GDP (gross domestic product) is between 15% and 20% in some other member states,” he said.
He mentioned Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore.
“They depend so much on tourism, so it is imperative that we have a very strong agreement among ourselves on the travel corridor,” he said.
Other ASEAN member states include the Philippines, Brunei, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar.
The creation of an ASEAN travel corridor to assist member countries’ economic recovery was first discussed in November 2020. This would come with the creation of temporary fast lanes and health checks
