The ASEAN-Korea Centre held a webinar on ASEAN-Korea tourism titled “Recovering from COVID-19: Smart Tourism for ASEAN and Korea” on 8 September. Co-organized with the Korea Tourism Organization and Travie, the webinar served as a platform to share up-to-date information on the changing trends of global tourism after the outbreak of COVID-19, and to discuss how tourism between ASEAN and Korea can resume in the future with the advancement of digital technology.

(Session 1) ASEAN-Korea Tourism towards post-pandemic recovery: The impacts of COVID-19 and strategies to reinvigorate tourism between ASEAN and Korea

- Global Tourism Trend and Challenges after COVID-19: Travel Impact Analysis and Guidelines to Restart Tourism (Mr. Harry Hwang, Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific, UNWTO)

- ASEAN’s Response to COVID-19: Mitigating its Impact, Developing the Recovery Strategy and Supporting Tourism SMEs for a reinvigorated ASEAN-Korea Tourism (H.E. Mr. Benito C. Bengzon, JR., Undersecretary, Dept. of Tourism, Philippines (Chair of ASEAN Tourism Competitiveness Committee))

- ASEAN-Korea Tourism with COVID-19 (Mr. Ahn Deok-soo, Head of Tourism Companies Support Dept., Korea Tourism Organization)

- Preparing for a Post-COVID-19 era in the tourism industry; Business Sectors’ Response (Mr. Benjamin Yau, Director, Hong Kong Trade Development Council Seoul Office)

(Session 2) Smart Tourism for Business

- Journey to the Southeast: Norming the Storm (Mr. Terry Santoso, Head of Marketing, Traveloka Xperience)

- COVID-19: Facing the challenges, seizing the opportunities (Ms. Hang Ly, COO & Co-founder, TripHunter)

- Revolutionizing your overseas-travel payments (Mr. Lee Jae-won, COO, Head of Global Business, Mobile toong)

- Next Generation Hospitality Management (Mr. John Lee, CEO, H2O Hospitality)