ASEAN Tourism Research Association (ATRA) was invited to attend the virtual ASEAN National Tourism Organisations (NTOs) Meeting, the 54th ASEAN NTOs Meeting 2021 which was held on 7th July 2021. Prof. Dr. Neethiahnanthan Ari Ragavan, President of ATRA; Prof. Datuk Seri Dr. Victor Wee, Secretary-General of ATRA and Dr. Puvaneswaran Kunasekaran, Treasurer of ATRA represented the association. The Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy of Indonesia hosted the meeting. Prof. Datuk Seri Dr. Victor Wee presented the significant role of the ASEAN Tourism Research Association (ATRA) on the pandemic impacts on regional tourism development.
Recent challenges including low tourists’ confidence and limiting damage to the tourism industry due to job loss, closure of hotels & tourism products while increasing resilience and creating opportunities for dynamic tourism products, vaccine visa or health passport, travel bubble and domestic tourism are stressed by ATRA.
ATRA has urged ASEAN governments to help target destination promotion and incentives to consumers to boost arrivals, especially in highly tourism-dependent areas. ATRA is an accredited Civil Society Organization (CSO) and officially recognized as a research wing for ASEAN for ASEAN's major policies, directives, and decisions.