e-tourism expert Jens Thraenhart

The New Media Boot Camp has been created so that travel bloggers, journalists and travel industry operators can come up with ideas to implement new media channels and story-telling through engaging content, and use emerging technologies to promote the Mekong region. 

The Boot Camp will be hosted by Jens Thraenhart, award-winning global e-tourism expert, blogger and president of Dragon Trail. 

Thraenhart says the boot camp has three broad objectives: 1) to bring together travel bloggers in the Mekong region, share best practices, learn, and network 2) to inform international travel bloggers — consumer and trade – about the Mekong subregion, to learn about its opportunities and challenges 3) to educate travel suppliers, from hotels, travel agents and attractions how to leverage social media marketing and web 2.0 technologies. 

“The future of destination marketing is online,” says Thraenhart. “Especially in the Mekong region, which attracts a younger, tech-savvy demographic. They all want to read and share travel advice online before, during and after their trip. The boot camp will help media and the travel industry engage meaningfully with such travellers.” 

Thraenhart says that each session will be conducted voluntarily by bloggers. “We will cover issues such as dealing with positive and negative hotel reviews, how to integrate web 2.0 technologies into travel websites, how to measure social media and digital marketing campaigns, new media pitfalls and opportunities, and how to start a successful blog.” 

The New Media Boot Camp will take place at La Folie Lodge, Dong Daeng Island in the Mekong River, a one-hour journey from the Mekong Tourism Forum in Pakse. 

Following the Boot Camp in the morning of 26 May, attendees have lunch and then will be taken to the ancient Vat Phou Temple Complex. Later the group will board a private Mekong River sunset cruise aboard the Vat Phou Boat and sail back to Pakse. 

Travel industry participants and media can register for the New Media Boot Camp at a special rate of US$100, which includes Boot Camp, lunch, Vat Phou visit and sunset cruise back to Pakse. Space for the Boot Camp at is limited to just 50 people. For more information, or to register, email: newmedia@mekongtourism.org. Tel: (+66) 86 025 5585. 

A special earlybird Mekong Tourism Forum registration fee of US$200 is available until 30 April. Register here. From 1 May the registration fee becomes US$300. 

Note to journalists: Media participants may also apply to join one of several pre-event overland familiarisation trips that will travel cross-border from points in Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam to reach the Boot Camp (26 May) and the Mekong Tourism Forum (27-28 May). Media registration for the Forum is open here.

Celebrity Chef Bobby Chinn

Chinn’s appearance at the Forum is an ideal fit for this year’s theme, ‘Destination Mekong: The Making of a Star’. Chinn himself grew to international stardom in the Greater Mekong Sub-region with Restaurant Bobby Chinn in Hanoi and his World Café Asia television series.

“Food is a vital element in deciding where to go on holiday,” said John Watson, CEO of Diethelm Travel Group. “Throughout the Mekong region we see culinary interest as a major attraction and passion for many of our guests.”

Chinn will appear on May 27 during the Forum in an engaging one-on-one interview on stage. In the Forum’s food festival that evening he will give cooking demonstrations and exchange cooking tips with the Forum’s guests. There will be plenty of food sampling going on. Chinn has an unconventional background. Born in New Zealand to a Chinese father and an Egyptian mother, he was schooled in England and for a time but calls San Francisco home. With a degree in Finance and Economics, he tried his hand as a trader on the floor on the New York Stock Exchange and even spent some time on the stage as a stand-up comic in LA before finding his true calling as a chef.

Bobby learned his cooking skills at establishments in San Francisco, Bordeaux and Paris. He relocated to Vietnam in 1996, going on to run several highly acclaimed restaurants including Camargue and Saigon Joe’s in Ho Chi Minh City, and Miro and the Red Onion Bistro in Hanoi. 

Bobby Chinn cooking hot in Hanoi

He then opened his own restaurant in Hanoi. Restaurant Bobby Chinn has won numerous awards including the 5 Star Diamond Award from the American Academy of Hospitality Sciences, the only restaurant in Vietnam to receive this honor. His restaurant also won the Wine Spectator Award of Excellence for seven consecutive years, the only restaurant in Vietnam to achieve this accolade. Bobby has hosted a number of VIPs including both US President Bill Clinton and his wife Hillary Rodham Clinton at various times and British Deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott.

Along the way Bobby has grown into a household name in Vietnam, across Asia and globally, with his restaurants, TV shows and books. 

Meet Bobby and find out about tourism in the Mekong region. A special Early Bird registration fee for the Mekong Tourism Forum of just US$200 applies up to 30 April. From 1 May the full fee of US$300 will be charged. The registration fee includes admission to the two-day conference sessions, proceedings, refreshment breaks, luncheons, dinners and receptions as indicated in the official programme.

The Forum’s venue hotel, the Champasak Grand Hotel, is offering a special rate of US$39 per room (single or double), including breakfast and free internet connectivity for MTF attendees who book here.

For further information email to: mtf@mekongtourism.org or call the Mekong Tourism Coordinating Office. Tel: (+66) 2-612-4150.

BANGKOK – The 2011 edition of the Mekong Tourism Forum will take place in the emerging destination of Pakse, southern Laos, 27-28 May. Under the theme, “Destination Mekong: The Making of a Star,” the leading tourism event for the Mekong region will showcase emerging destinations and trends in the Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS). 

“The Forum is the event of the year for travel industry professional dedicated to putting the GMS on the global travel map as a single destination,” said Mason Florence, executive director of the Mekong Tourism Coordinating Office in Bangkok. “Tourism leaders from the public and private sectors and regional development partners realize that the Forum is the ideal place for travel industry people who are serious about exploring the region’s cross-border potential.”

As part of Forum there will be a Mekong Travel Fair with 80 booths, a Lao Food Festival, a special

session on social media for the travel industry, a mini marathon and three complementary post-Forum

tours. The event is being hosted by the Lao National Tourism Administration. Online registrations for the Forum are now open at www.mekongtourismforum.org.

A special Early Bird registration fee of just US$200 applies up to 30 April. From 1 May the full fee of US$300 will be charged. The registration fee includes admission to the two-day conference sessions, proceedings, refreshment breaks, luncheons, dinners and receptions as indicated in the official programme.

“The Mekong Tourism Forum provides great inspiration to companies seeking to innovate and grow across the Greater Mekong Region,” said Willem Niemeijer, CEO and co-founder of Khiri Group. “Last year the Forum proved to be a great source of synergy between grass roots operators, multi-national hotel chains, destination management companies, NGOs, government bodies and the media. I have the same high expectations of this year’s Forum in the emerging destination of Pakse.”

Attendees, from travel companies to NGOs and handicraft sellers can also take a booth at the Forum’s Mekong Travel Fair in the same venue, the Champasak Grand Hotel. Booths cost just US$200 for both days, which includes two exhibitor badges for the Mekong Travel Fair (not the Forum).

The Champasak Grand Hotel is offering a special rate of US$39 per room (single or double), including breakfast and free internet connectivity for MTF attendees who book here.

For further information email to: mtf@mekongtourism.org or call the Mekong Tourism Coordinating Office. Tel: (+66) 2-612-4150.

The announcement was made by the Lao National Tourism Administration at the end of a revitalised Mekong Tourism Forum, which attracted a larger-than-expected audience of 213 delegates and closed 8 May in Siem Reap, Cambodia.

Mr Sounh Manivong, Director General, Planning & Cooperation, in the LNTA, told delegates that Champasak was an emerging destination with the largest waterfall in Southeast Asia and attractions such as Four Thousand Islands in the Mekong River. The area is known as an ecotourism retreat with wild nature, ancient temples and quiet riverside lodges.

Closing this year’s forum, which was hosted by Cambodia, the country’s Minister for Tourism, Dr Thong Khon, told delegates that Cambodia was committed to enhancing intraregional connections and diversifying its own offerings.

“In 2009, we strived hard to diversify from the cultural sites of Siem Reap-Angkor to the coastal zones,” said Minister Thong. “We hope that more flights will be connected to the costal zones as well as cruise ships. Railway links from Phnom Penh to Sihanoukville are under reconstruction.”

During the forum, themed “New Roads, New Opportunities,” businesses such as The Gibbon Experience, Khiri Travel, Asian Overland Travel, Hanuman Travel and Green Discovery, and Bangkok Airways stressed the importance of innovation.

Trying to realise cross-border opportunities.

Organisations such as the Netherlands Development Organisation (SNV), the Wildlife Conservation Society, and Thailand’s Community-Based Tourism Institute stressed the crucial role of sustainable, small-scale community based projects. Altiva Hospitality and The Pavilion (Cambodia) showed how responsible private sector initiatives could make a profit, respect the environment and create jobs in a region where average income in rural areas can be less than US$2 a day.

Other speakers expressed concerns about border crossings.

Luzi Matzig, Group CEO of Asian Trails, told the forum that governments could easily boost cross-border tourism by slashing the red tape that makes it difficult or impossible to drive to a neighbouring country. “If you want to easily boost tourism, liberate cross-border road traffic,” he said.

Some red tape is being cut. During the forum, Myanmar announced that effective 1 May it was offering visas on arrival at Yangon and Mandalay international airports.

After speaking at the forum this year, Bangkok Airways’ Vice President for Corporate Communications, ML Nandhika Varavarn, said: “It is great that the Mekong Tourism Forum has come back so strong with a big and enthusiastic audience. The forum is once again a relevant meeting place for Mekong region tourism cooperation and innovation.”

The Mekong Tourism Forum was hosted by the Ministry of Tourism Cambodia with financial support from the USAID-funded ASEAN Competitiveness Enhancement project and the Mekong Tourism Coordinating Office.

The 25 booths at this year’s Mekong Tourism Forum sold out quickly and were popular with sustainable tourism operators.

For further information email to: mtf@mekongtourism.org or call the Mekong Tourism Coordinating Office at: (+66) 2-612-4150.

In his opening remarks to over 170 attendees at the opening session today, H.E. Kuosuom Saroeuth, Secretary of State, Ministry of Tourism, Cambodia, said:  “The Mekong Tourism Forum represents an inclusive, cooperative effort to encourage both public and private sector participation to represent the GMS as a single destination. We hope to expand our marketing networks, promote the GMS, and its stakeholders, and pool our collective resources to create synergy between the six countries of the region.”

The Secretary of State told forum delegates that Asia and the Mekong region were pulling the travel industry out of its recent recession. He pointed out that Cambodia’s international visitor arrivals grew in 2009 compared to 2008.

The focus of the forum will be on the benefits to tourism that occur from new road corridors linking the region. The GMS countries, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam and the southern Chinese provinces of Yunnan and Guangxi, chose the theme “New Roads, New Opportunities” to pinpoint the challenges and opportunities facing tourism in the region.

“The time is right for inspirational and innovative cross-border tourism ideas that utilise the new road links,” said Mekong Tourism Coordinating Office (MTCO) Executive Director, Mr Mason Florence. “We’re moving from infrastructure provision to promotion and protection in the GMS. That’s why the Mekong Tourism Forum will become an annual event again.”

During the two-day forum, delegates will also hear from Mekong region governments about their plans for cooperation in tourism. Officials will update the audience on visa regulations, airport developments, border crossing changes, and new policies and incentives for the industry.

Apart from the Cambodian Ministry of Tourism and the MTCO, financial support for the Forum is being provided by the USAID-funded ASEAN Competitiveness Enhancement (ACE) project

ACE Director Mr R. J. Gurley told delegates that USAID would continue to work with tourism partners to increase cross-border exchanges of people, goods and services in the ASEAN region, which is striving to become a fully integrated economic community by 2015.

“ASEAN has identified responsible tourism as a priority sector for growth and greater integration in ASEAN and Mekong countries,” said Mr Gurley. “The ACE Project is exploring how we can enhance the tourism industry’s integration and competitiveness at the regional and sub-regional levels.”

The Asian Development Bank wants to see new small and medium-sized tourism businesses creating wealth for the sub-region. “Our aim is for responsible community-based tourism enterprises to develop along and near the road corridors,” said Christine Jacquemin, the MTCO Sustainable Tourism Development Project Coordinator, a position supported by the ADB. “New businesses may be small, but they can do a great job to diversify attractions and bring in money outside the major destinations.”

Leading tour operators, hotel companies, airlines and development organizations are attending the Mekong Tourism Forum 2010 along with tourism officials.

During the forum at the Angkor Century Resort & Spa in Siem Reap, panel discussions are being held on “Pioneering Mekong Tourism Products,” “The Path to Community-based Tourism,” “How Sustainable Tourism Can Drive Profit,” and “The Road Ahead”.

For the full program showing all speakers, visit here.

Tourism ministers, director generals, travel industry CEOs and leading private sector and development minds will address current and future challenges and opportunities facing tourism in the Mekong region. The Forum takes place in Siem Reap, Cambodia, 7-8 May 2010.

High profile speakers include H.E. Dr Thong Khon, Minister of Tourism of Cambodia, Mr Luzi Matzig, Group CEO, Asian Trails, Mr Pradech Phayakvichien, former Governor, Tourism Authority of Thailand, Mr Bill Black, Managing Director, Altiva Hospitality, Mr Tran Trong Kien, Founder and CEO of Buffalo Tours Vietnam, Ms Chananya Phataraprasit, Chairperson, Asian Oasis, Mr Inthy Deansavan, Managing Director of Green Discovery Laos, and Mr Greg Duffell CEO of PATA, to name a few.

Mr Lim Neo Chian (pictured right) and friend visiting Angkor Wat during 2009 "Asean on Wheels" odyssey.

One of the highlights will be “In Conversation with Lim Neo Chian”. In this session Yeoh Siew Hoon, Editor & Producer of WIT-Web In Travel will interview the former CEO of the Singapore Tourism Board, who will share Mekong-region travel encounters from his 2009 “ASEAN On Wheels” 4-wheel drive adventure. He will highlight the opportunities that he sees for Mekong tourism growth in the years ahead.

Other top level session moderators and controllers, such as Ludwig Rieder of Asia Pacific Projects, Mr Don Ross of TTR Weekly, and Mr Tith Chanta, Director General of the Ministry of Tourism Cambodia, will define and direct the debates at the Forum.

Opportunities and threats will be analyzed against a backdrop of growth. “Tourism demand for Mekong region destinations is storming ahead,” said Mr Mason Florence, Executive Director of the Mekong Tourism Coordinating Office in Bangkok. “We need to work together to make sure development is fair and sustainable and that we remove obstacles to growth and poverty alleviation.”

With new road corridors opening much of the sub-region, there will be sessions on “Pioneering Mekong Tourism Products,” “The Path to Community-based Tourism,” “How Sustainable Tourism Can Drive Profit,” and “The Road Ahead.”

Government speakers will update the audience on visa regulations, border crossing changes, airport developments, and new policies and incentives for the tourism sector.

For the full program showing all speakers, visit here.

The Mekong Tourism Forum 2010 is open to all. Registration (only US$50; PATA members US$30) can be done online at www.mekongtourismforum.org.

For further information email to: mtf@mekongtourism.org or call the Mekong Tourism Coordinating Office at: (+66) 2-612-4150.

The theme of the Mekong Tourism Forum 2010 is, “New Roads, New Opportunities”. Business and government sector leaders will assess the latest tourism developments and investment opportunities along the regional road networks linking Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam and the southern China provinces of Yunnan and Guangxi.

“We are looking forward to hosting this influential networking gathering,” said Dr Thong Khon, Minister of Tourism for Cambodia. “It will mark the progress of a pivotal business and travel industry forum initiated by the Asian Development Bank 14 years ago,” he said.

Across the Mekong region, new areas with limited or no tourism are now opening up along three main corridors: the southern coastal road from Bangkok to Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam via Cambodia; the central east-west route linking Northeast Thailand to southern Laos and Hue in central Vietnam; and the north-south Kunming-Bangkok road through northern Laos.

“Today villages and towns along the way are benefiting from the arrival of tourists where there were none before,” said Mason Florence, Director of the Bangkok-based Mekong Tourism Coordinating Office. “At the Mekong Tourism Forum we will discuss investment prospects and hear from tourism operators who are already taking advantage of opportunities along the new overland corridors.”

During the forum at the Angkor Century Resort & Spa panel discussions will be held on “Pioneering Mekong Tourism Products,” “The Right Path for Community-based Tourism,” “Buying Into Sustainable Tourism” and “The Road Ahead”.

Government speakers will also update the audience on visa regulations, border crossing changes, airport developments, and new policies and incentives for the tourism sector.

Tourism has established itself as an economic force across the Mekong region, which still contains areas where average income is less than US$2 a day.

According to the latest statistics from PATA, in 2009 Cambodia’s international visitor arrivals reached 2.046 million, up 2% on 2008. Vietnam attracted 3.772 million, down 11%. Lao PDR received 862,000 visitors, down 3%. Myanmar attracted 243,000 visitors, up 26% from 2008 (when cyclone Nargis hit). Thailand received 14.1 million visitors in 2009, down 3% on the year before. 

To help attract small and medium-sized tourism entrepreneurs and a diverse range of travel professionals, the MTCO, in conjunction with Cambodia’s Ministry of Tourism, has reduced the cost of attending the Mekong Tourism Forum 2010 to a nominal US$50 for the two-day event and US$30 for members of the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA). The registration fee includes access to all forum sessions, including two lunches and two dinners.

The Mekong Tourism Forum 2010 is open to all. Registration can be done online at www.mekongtourismforum.org.

For further information email to: info@mekongtourismforum.org or call the Mekong Tourism Coordinating Office at: (+66) 2-612-4150.