Tourism Planning in Southeast Asia: Bringing Down Borders Through Cooperation

Political boundaries have traditionally functioned as barriers to human interaction. Government policies and borders, which mark the limits of national sovereignty, have acted to control the flow of goods, people, and services between countries. During the past decade, however, the world has undergone tremendous geopolitical changes, wherein the role of political frontiers has become that of a line of integration rather than simply a barrier to interaction. Liberalization of trade policies, the easing of travel restrictions by many countries, and international cooperation in economic development have been at the forefront of these shifts in political ideologies. These changes have had significant impacts on international tourism, including a widespread decrease in the traditional barrier effects of international boundaries in terms of the flow of people and trade in goods and services. Although the concept of international cooperation in tourism planning is new and not yet widespread, some international destination regions, such as the United States and Canada (Richard, 1993) and Jordan and Israel (Kliot, 1996), are beginning to realize the value of working together to develop and promote common tourism resources.