The three-day Asia Pacific Ecotourism Conference (APeco) ended on a high note on Sunday night with the signing of a landmark Memorandum of Understanding at the farewell dinner held here.
The MOU is groundbreaking as it is the first time that ecotourism associations and NGOs from different parts of the world commit to jointly work together to enhance the promotion of ecotourism principles based on equal partnership in their respective countries and around the world.
Signatories of the MOU are The International Ecotourism Society, Japan Ecotourism Society, Ecotourism Association of Australia and the APeco organising committee.
To achieve this objective, the signatories have identified several mechanisms. These include information exchange and networking, coordination of ecotourism events, sharing of expertise among ecotourism practitioners and related industries, and aligning marketing strategies for mutual benefit.
They also agree that progress within the MOU will be updated quarterly to enhance cooperation and magnify results.
From next year, APeco will become an annual event. Although the 2003 APeco will be held again in Malaysia, in Pulau Langkawi from 2-5 October, the organisers have opened the event to bids. The idea is to have Malaysia host it one year and alternate it with another country within the Asia/Pacific region the next (e-Daily, 4 October 2002).