1. Background of Trilateral Cooperation on Tourism Marketing
1.1 Trilateral Cooperation: the key of North East Asia Cooperation
Overall, the cooperation in North East Asia region lags behind, but in some areas, the progress has been speeded up recently. And the trilateral cooperation among China, Japan and Korea is the key for the further progressing of North East Asia Cooperation.
1.2 The System of Trilateral Cooperation: on Construction
In recent years the construction of infrastructure, cooperation in environment protection, financial issues, energy and industries, cultural communication have created a beneficial environment for tourism collaboration.
1.3 High Interdependency: Tourism Development among three Countries
(1) Asia and Pacific region emerging as a more and more important pole compared with Europe and America in the global tourism industry
Table 1 International Tourist Arrivals of Different Regions in the World Unit: Million/%
| Region | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 a | Percentage of Global 2005 a | Percentage of Global 2006 b | 06/05
Growth |
| Global | 703 | 691 | 766 | 808 | 845.1 | 100 | 100 | 4.6 |
| Europe | 397 | 399 | 424.5 | 441.6 | 455.2 | 54.65 | 53.86 | 3.1 |
| Asia and Pacific | 131 | 119 | 145.4 | 156.7 | 170.6 | 19.39 | 20.19 | 8.9 |
| America | 117 | 113 | 125.9 | 133.6 | 137.7 | 16.53 | 16.29 | 3.1 |
| Africa | 30 | 31 | 33.4 | 36.8 | 38.8 | 4.55 | 4.59 | 5.5 |
| Middle East | 28 | 29 | 36.3 | 39.7 | 42.9 | 4.91 | 5.08 | 8.2 |
Source: WTO, World Tourism Barometer
(2) North East Asia providing the important support of Asia and Pacific region’s fast growth
Table 2 International Tourist Arrivals within Asia and the Pacific Region in 2005
| International Tourist Arrivals in 2005 (million) | Percentage of 2005 | ||
| Global | Asia and Pacific | ||
| Asia and the Pacific | 155.4 | 19.3 | 100 |
| North East Asia | 87.6 | 10.8 | 55.96 |
| South East Asia | 49.3 | 6.2 | 32.12 |
| Oceania | 10.5 | 1.3 | 6.74 |
| South Asia | 8.0 | 1.0 | 5.18 |
Source: WTO, World Tourism Barometer
Table 3 Top Spenders of Outbound Tourism
| Rank | Country | 1995 | 2000 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 |
| 1 | Germany | 60.2 | 53.0 | 64.7 | 71.0 | 72.7 |
| 2 | USA | 44.9 | 64.7 | 57.4 | 65.8 | 69.2 |
| 3 | UK | 24.9 | 38.4 | 47.9 | 56.5 | 59.6 |
| 4 | Japan | 36.8 | 31.9 | 28.8 | 38.2 | 37.5 |
| 7 | P.R.C | 3.7 | 13.1 | 15.2 | 19.1 | 21.8 |
| 11 | Republic of Korea | 6.3 | 7.1 | 10.1 | 12.4 | 15.3 |
| 14 | Hong Kong, China | 10.5 | 12.5 | 11.4 | 13.3 | 13.3 |
| 21 | Tai Wan, China | 7.1 | 8.1 | 6.4 | 7.8 | 8.8 |
Source: WTO, World Tourism Barometer
(3) Key destinations and tourist generator reciprocally among three countries
| Tourist Generator | Destination | |||
| 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | |
| P. R.C | Republic of Korea | Japan | Japan | Republic of Korea |
| Japan | Republic of Korea | Taiwan, China | USA | P. R.C |
| Republic of Korea | Japan | Taiwan, China | P. R.C | Japan |
2. Recent Progress of Trilateral Cooperation on Tourism Marketing
2.1 The Start and Evolution of Tourism Cooperation among three Countries
---- Oct., 2003, tourism is one of the key areas of trilateral cooperation
---- Nov., 2004, “to promote three countries as a destination and to create tourism circle”
---- Jul., 2006, Tourism Minister Conference and Hokkaido Declaration
---- In 2010, the tourist flow among three countries should reach 170 million.
2.2 Lack of Practical Measures of Tourism Marketing Cooperation
Compared with EU, ASEAN and South East Asia, the tourism marketing cooperation among China, Japan and Korea is still on its early stage, without institutional system and practical support.
3. Objective, System and Strategy of Trilateral Cooperation on Tourism Marketing
3.1 Objective: to create an integrated destination and to construct an international tour region without barriers
---- to enable tourists flow among three countries smoothly and increase the market share of this region in global market
---- to promote the integrated destination image in the world and attract more tourists from other regions
3.2 System: to establish a coordinating committee and construct cooperation systems at different levels
---- To establish Tourism-related Issues’ Coordinating Committee in order to deal with the issues related with tourism, for examples, visa, custom, transportation and communication
---- To further the Tourism Ministers Conference and to concrete and implement the cooperation system, method and arrangement
---- To set up an Alliance of Tourist Cities as the main implement entity
---- To form an Integrated DMO
----To facilitate the cooperation among tourism companies and trades
---- To sign the Agreement of Integrated Destination Marketing
3.3 Strategy
---- To choose some areas as the pilot
---- To take usage of the forthcoming mega event, i.e. 2008 Olympic Games, 2010 EXPO, 2007 the 35th Anniversary for China and Japan to establish diplomatic relations, etc
---- To promote the creation of China-Japan-Korea FTA and other economic cooperation and to combine tourism into the cultural communication
4 Measures of the Further Trilateral Cooperation on Tourism Marketing
4.1 To Create and Promote the Integrated Destination Image
4.2 To Establish the Tour Circle without Barriers
---- to realize visa free in some situations and regions
---- to increase the direct flights among three countries and to better the marine tourist transportation
----to set up the tourist information center which provides information in Chinese, Japanese and Korean, as well as English
---- to set up a collaborative system for the tourist emergency and complains
4.3 To implement pilot projects in selected regions or programs
4.4 To develop new tourist products
---- To develop special interest tour, cruise tour, yacht tour and festivals
---- To develop tourist product together targeting European and American tourists
4.4 To Cooperation based on 2008 Olympic Games
---- To make an arrangement of the cooperation in details for 2008, for examples, the tour package, promotion and information, etc
---- To develop Olympic tourist products together, to name a few, “Games + Cultural tours”, “Games + Spa”, “Games+ MICE”, “Game + Asian Food”
---- To produce and forecast tourist advertisings jointly in Europe and America
---- To combine tourism with trade, investment and cultural events, for example, China and Korea can apply for Nonmaterial World Heritage together
---- To promote tourism together in 2007, the last year of 2008 Olympic, 35th anniversary for China and Japan to establish diplomatic relations, and the friendly year of China and Korea.