DASTA and UNESCO's Collaboration: Introducing the VMAST to ASEAN Member Countries to Help Improve the Assessment of Tourist Site Management toward Sustainability
DASTA and UNESCO's Collaboration:
Introducing the VMAST to ASEAN Member Countries to Help Improve the Assessment of Tourist Site Management toward Sustainability
DASTA, in collaboration with UNESCO, held an online workshop for ASEAN member countries in order to introduce the UNESCO’s Visitor Management, Assessment and Strategy Tool (VMAST) to the authorities of tourist destinations and World Heritage sites in ASEAN countries. Focusing on 4 aspects of sustainable development which are 1) visitor management 2) environment 3) community and culture and 4) economy, this workshop ultimately aims to continue making an impact on Asia-Pacific level cooperation.
Gp. Capt. Athikun Kongmee, the Director-General of DASTA, expressed that DASTA and UNESCO jointly hosted this workshop for the authorities of 15 ASEAN World Heritage sites, Non-ASEAN World Heritage sites and other tourist destinations in order to enhance cooperation in knowledge sharing and to introduce the VMAST as a tool to support the implementation of visitor management at each destination.
VMAST is a tool that helps organizations and the personnel who are in charge of the administration of World Heritage and tourist sites achieve efficient self-assessment on various aspects in visitor management, leading to the formation of a work plan that corresponds with the needs of each site.
ASEAN VMAST Workshop consists of two sessions including 1) the introductory workshop in which the attendees would engage with the tool, learn how it can be practically utilized in visitor management, and put it into practice and 2) the presentation session where the participants would share their experiences as well as exchange their views on using the VMAST. DASTA and UNESCO anticipates that the fruitfulness of this workshop would lead to the application of VMAST in a larger scale such as in Asia-Pacific or APEC levels.
DASTA is Thailand’s first organization that incorporates the use of VMAST in its analysis of potential based on the supply side, which can be applied to the self-assessment of all tourist destinations. In addition, VMAST is a newly devised tool that helps support the analysis and assessment of tourist site management in order to identify the challenges that each site should address in its execution of tourism development.
In this regard, the Director-General of DASTA reiterated that this workshop has enhanced the cooperation between the ASEAN member countries to collaboratively tackle the challenges occurring during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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