JOHOR BAHRU, Malaysia – Malaysia was the power to be counted with at the ASEAN Tourism Forum 2025 (ATF 2025), where it organized a record-breaking event in Johor Bahru to gather all 10 ASEAN member states and key dialogue partners like China, Japan, South Korea, India, and Russia. The forum focused on formulating sustainable, resilient, and inclusive tourism for Southeast Asia.
One of the most important achievements of the forum was joint to review the ASEAN Tourism Strategic Plan (ATSP) 2016–2025, and development of the ASEAN Tourism Outlook 2030—a vision document to guide the development of tourism in the region into the future.
In its capacity as the 2025 ASEAN chair, Malaysia was urged by observers to seize the moment of leadership to further extend national and regional presence in the global arena of tourism. Malaysia’s good tourism performance in 2024, with a total of over 123 million international visitors—30.6% more on a year-on-year basis—was attributed to proactive measures like visa facilitation and innovative tourism products. Players in the industry stressed that this trend has to be sustained in the future.
The forum also touched on ASEAN’s growing close ties with non-members. Non-members like China, Japan, South Korea, and India reaffirmed their interest in deepening regional cooperation on tourism. Some of the most significant proposals were the introduction of an ASEAN-wide electronic travel pass (e-pass) to make cross-border travel easier, and a shared digital security platform to make visitors safer.
Tourism Malaysia released extended strategic selling missions to surrounding nations like Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, and Brunei. This is centered on regional collaboration and making Malaysia one of the key tourism hubs to anticipate Visit Malaysia 2026 (VM2026).
One of the major highlights of the forums was Muslim-friendly tourism—the rapidly growing niche where Malaysia is still the market leader. The forum called for increased regional cooperation to drive this segment as ASEAN’s combined strength.
ATF 2025 concluded on a high note with all the participating nations reiterating their commitment towards cooperating to make Southeast Asia a world-class, integrated travel destination.
