ASEAN Forum Targets Digital Resilience and Service Export Growth at AIFTIS 2025
Malaysia, 27 November 2025 – Kuala Lumpur, 19th November 2025 – The inaugural ASEAN International Fair for Trade in Services (AIFTIS) 2025, a high-level strategic initiative convened by MITI, MSPC, and ASEAN, successfully concluded its expert forum focused on the future of regional tourism trade.
The forum, themed "Reimagining ASEAN Tourism Services Productivity for Regional Resilience and Service Export Growth," brought together policymakers, industry leaders, and innovators to address critical drivers of productivity.
The session aimed to identify high-value tourism services that ASEAN can export or regionalise, reduce reliance on non-ASEAN technology platforms (e.g., OTA platforms) and frame pathways for ASEAN tourism service certification and regional branding.
The forum featured a diverse group of speakers addressing critical areas of tourism development, moderated by Madam Niknaza from Tourism Productivity Nexus (TPN).
Ms Rajesvare Rada, Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) Expert, ASEAN National Assessor and Senior Lecturer, HELP University Malaysia, who shared her findings on AI development in the tourism sector
Prof Dr Ahmad Zaki, Dean, Geomatika University, who shared his insights on gastronomy tourism development
Mr Rohizam Yusof, President of DITTAM (Digital Travel Technology Association of Malaysia), who spoke on the latest trends and developments of the tourism industry
Ms Jenny Lee from Malaysian Inbound Tourism Associations (MITA), who enlighten the audience about aquatic sports tourism development in the country
AI in Tourism: Advancements and Roadblocks
As a PATA Expert and academic, Ms Rajesvare delivered a presentation on Technology Integration in the tourism industry, highlighting the shift towards Smart Tourism driven by AI and data. She emphasised how AI and Machine Learning (ML) are redefining the travel experience through personalisation of tourism experiences, revenue and operations optimisation, and security and seamless flow.
However, the presentation also highlighted critical challenges that must be addressed for equitable adoption, primarily digital inequality, which focuses on the lack of equal access to advanced technology and infrastructure across ASEAN stakeholders, high implementation costs for IoT and AI, acting as a major barrier, especially for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs). Ms Rajesvare further emphasised data privacy and security, especially potential misuse of traveller information and ethical concerns on managing algorithmic biases in recommendation engines, as well as the importance of establishing digital governance standards across ASEAN economies.
The forum panellist suggested collaborative efforts in promoting the tourism sector across ASEAN to ensure that the digital transformation journey is not only technologically advanced but also equitable and secure, ensuring that the growth of ASEAN's services trade benefits all regional stakeholders.