On 7 June 2018, the welcoming dinner of ASEAN-Korea Tourism Investment Seminar was hosted by ASEAN-Korea Centre (AKC) in Seoul, Korea. H.E. Mr. Lee Hyuk, Secretary General of AKC, H.E. Mr. Aladdin D. Rillo, Deputy Secretary-General of ASEAN for ASEAN Economic Community of ASEAN Secretariat and representatives from National Tourism Organizations (NTOs) of Korea and ASEAN attended the event. H.E. Mme. Yang Xiuping, Secretary-General of ASEAN-China Centre (ACC) and H.E. Mr. Masataka Fujita, Secretary General of ASEAN-Japan Centre (AJC) were invited to the dinner.

S.G. Lee Hyuk warmly welcomed all the guests to attend the seminar and expressed appreciation to the ASEAN Secretariat and Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Korea (MCST) for their strong support and assistance. He said that the seminar aims to follow up the proposal by ASEAN NTOs, to promote cooperation in tourism investment among ASEAN and China, Japan and Korea, to provide a platform for communication and experience exchange among relevant industry leaders from Korean and ASEAN, and to promote both sides to further tap the potential of cooperation. He expected the participants from Korea and ASEAN to make full use of this opportunity to deepen exchanges and contribute to the sustainable development of tourism in the region.

S.G. Aladdin thanked AKC for holding this seminar. He said that with the vigorous development of the world tourism industry, the number of foreign tourists visiting ASEAN has continued to grow, providing new opportunities for expanding tourism investment cooperation. At the same time, ASEAN tourism also faced many challenges, especially in the construction of tourism infrastructure. He hoped that all the participants would strengthen exchanges and work together to explore new ways for future cooperation.