HANOI: Asean members have agreed to cooperate to promote the region as a one-stop tourist destination in an effort to cushion the impact of the global financial crisis on regional tourism.

Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said told the Malaysian media in Hanoi that more focus would be given to youth tourism as part of Asean’s plan to create a shared destination approach to increase tourism figures.

"This is also in line with the two countries - one destination approach that we are already practising," she said late Thursday after attending the Asean Tourism Ministers meeting during the 28th Asean Tourism Forum.

The year 2009/2010 will be named Youth Travelers Year in Asean in an effort to tap into the potential market of young tourists, she said.

"Asean Tourism Ministers agreed that there is a big market for young travellers to travel across the region and it should be maximised further in 209 and 2010," she added.

Azalina said there was also a need for destination branding, not only sell each country separately but to have one Asean campaign.

The Ministers also agreed to give a Green Award in 2010 for hotels that practised environment-friendly and sustainable policy.

"We also talked about promoting cruise tourism in Asean. Although details were not discussed, all countries must come together to make this policies a success," she added.

On youth tourism, Azalina said Malaysia and Singapore had agreed last year for Singaporean students to come to Malaysia as part of their learning experience.

She said about 1,000 Malaysian schools were also part of the student tourism club programme to help promote the tourism industry at a young age.

The eight-day forum with about 1,500 delegates including industry players aims to increase awareness of the multi-faceted travel destinations offered by Asean countries while discussing current challenges especially the economic crisis.