The Ninth Meeting of the ASEAN Heads of NTOs was held in Bandung, Indonesia on 13 January 1991.

The Meeting was attended by Dato Paduka Haji Yaakub bin Abu Bakar, Director of Financial Services, Ministry of Finance, Negara Brunei Darussalam; H.E. Mr. Soesilo Soedarman, Minister of Tourism, Post and Telecommunications, Republic of Indonesia; H.E. Dato Sabbaruddin Chik, Minister of Culture, Arts and Tourism, Malaysia; Ms. Narzalina Z. Lim, Undersecretary for Planning, Product Research and Coordination, Department of Tourism, Republic of the Philippines; H.E. Mr. Mah Bow Tan, Minister of State for Trade and Industry, Republic of Singapore and Mr. Dharmnoon Prachaubmoh, Governor, Tourism Authority of Thailand, Kingdom of Thailand and their delegations.

Prior to the Meeting, the ASEAN Heads of NTOs paid a courtesy call on His Excellency President Soeharto of the Republic of Indonesia, who graciously welcomed them to Indonesia.

The ASEAN Heads of NTOs presided over the official launching of Visit ASEAN Year 1992 promotion campaign and witnessed the Opening Ceremony of the ASEAN Tourism Forum 1991 which were held at the historic Gedung Merdeka in Bandung on 12 January 1991.

The ASEAN Heads of NTOs, during the course of their deliberation, reviewed the progress of the tourism industry in the region and considered some of the key issues of concern particularly the global political and economic events that had a bearing on the tourism industry, the challenges of the future and measures needed to be taken to strengthen the competitiveness of ASEAN as a tourism destination.

The ASEAN Heads of NTOs noted that tourism played an increasingly important role in the development of member countries. They also recognised that intra-ASEAN travel had become a major contributor to the tourism industry in the region.

The ASEAN Heads of NTOs commended the ASEAN Sub-Committee on Tourism for their efforts in the preparation for the Visit ASEAN Year 1992 and in implementing other programmes to foster closer co-operation in tourism. They expressed the confidence that the Visit ASEAN Year 1992 would be a success and would create a greater awareness of the tourism attractions of member countries in the world market.

The ASEAN Heads of NTOs also expressed their appreciation to the ASEAN Tourism Association (ASEANTA), the ASEAN National Carriers and other ASEAN bodies for their positive contributions and support to make the VAY'92 a success.

Aware of the changing and volatile global political and economic realities and the need to provide new- visions and strategies for the ASEAN tourism industry, the ASEAN Heads of NTOs agreed that :

In this regard, ASEAN Heads of NTOs directed the Sub-Committee on Tourism to initiate programmes and activities to implement the above.

In the interest of fostering greater goodwill and understanding among the peoples of ASEAN, the Heads of ASEAN NTOs expressed the hope that the Government media of ASEAN member countries would intensify their efforts to promote and publicise the region with a view to stimulate intra-ASEAN travel among ASEAN nationals.

The delegations of Negara Brunei Darussalam, Malaysia, the Republic of the Philippines, Singapore and the Kingdom of Thailand expressed their sincere appreciation to the Government and people of the Republic of Indonesia for the warm hospitality accorded to them and the excellent arrangements made for the Meeting.

The Meeting was held in the traditional spirit of ASEAN cordiality and solidarity.