YANGON, 25 June 2015: The Federation of ASEAN Travel Associations (FATA) has called on ASEAN countries to waive all entry visa requirements for citizens of ASEAN member countries.
Ironically, Myanmar is the only country left in the 10 member bloc that demands visitors apply for a visa. It has allowed visa-free travel from some ASEAN countries, but has failed to extend the arrangement to Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore, its three biggest trading partners.
FATA also called for visa-free travel for tourists from China, Japan and South Korea, to boost travel to ASEAN destinations.
FATA is the umbrella federation of national travel agency association presidents. There are 10 associations represented and the presidency rotates changing at the close of the ASEAN Tourism Forum in January.
FATA’s current president, Aung Myat Kyaw, told Irrawaddy media that more Chinese, Korean and Japanese tourists are coming to this region year by year, but they are required to have visas.
Thailand has the most liberal visa-free privileges for around 60 nations including Japan and Korea. But like its neighbours it has not extended visa-free travel to China the largest source market for tourists to ASEAN.
“Many travel agents in the region want to expand their market and that’s why visa requirements should be waived.”
“If there is a visa [exemption agreement] among these ‘ASEAN+3’ countries, tourists can travel through at any time. This is important for all [regional nations], that’s why we spoke out on this issue,” the president said.
ASEAN nationals should be allowed to enter any member country without visas for a minimum stay of 14 days, he added. However, the only culprit is the president’s own country.
Passport holders from Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, the Philippines and Vietnam are currently afforded visa-free entry into Myanmar for a period of 14 days.
According to the ASEAN charter all member countries are supposed to facilitate visa-free travel within the region. Myanmar was expected to open visa-free travel to the remaining three countries (Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia) but failed to do it by the time it vacated the ASEAN chair last January.