Tourism Working Group (TWG) Events

 

 

The Tourism Working Group (TWG) comprises senior officials from the national tourism organizations of the six countries of the Greater Mekong Subregion. It serves as the advisory body to the Bangkok-based Mekong Tourism Coordinating Office (MTCO) and provides operational leadership and technical guidance to plan, implement, monitor, and evaluate subregional activities.

The working group meets at least twice a year.

MTCO serves as the secretariat for TWG, the MTCO Board, and the annual Mekong Tourism Forum.

 

ADB Supports Construction of Sustainable Transport Links to U-Tapao Airport in Thailand’s Eastern Economic Corridor

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Government of Thailand signed the Climate-Resilient Connectivity for the Eastern Economic Corridor Project: The Intercity Motorway No. 7 on 6 June 2025. The $68.74 million loan agreement will provide a sustainable land transport network to the U-Tapao Airport in the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC). The EEC is a manufacturing and innovation hub in eastern Thailand supported by multimodal transport links, including rail, road, and air transport.  

Kampot International Tourism Port Boosts Tourism 

Cambodia’s Kampot International Tourism Port, inaugurated on 21 April 2025, positions Kampot as a competitive tourism hub, providing Southern Cambodia with links to Thailand, Viet Nam, and the country's own island destinations. Spanning four hectares in Tuek Chou district, the port was financed by a $10 million loan provided by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) under the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Tourism Infrastructure for Inclusive Growth, with additional funding by the Government of Cambodia.

54th Meeting of the GMS Tourism Working Group

Thailand's Department of Tourism under the Ministry of Tourism and Sports, and the Mekong Tourism Coordinating Office (MTCO) as co-organizer, hosted the 54th GMS Tourism Working Group Meeting (TWG-54) on 17 December 2024 in Krabi, Thailand. Senior and mid-level officials representing the National Tourism Organizations (NTOs) of the six GMS countries, MTCO, Asian Development Bank (ADB), development partners and organizations, including the ASEAN Secretariat (online participation), ASEAN-China Centre, ASEAN-Japan Centre (online participation), DASTA (online participation), Millennium Destinations, and ECPAT International, attended the meeting. 


Photo shows the participants of this year's regional training program together with the training team. Photo credit: ADB.

Honing Project Management Skills to Achieve Development Goals

Thirty-nine government officials and specialists joined this year’s Regional Training in Project Management organized by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in Bangkok from 5 to 9 May. The training program is designed to support the Brunei Darussalam–Indonesia–Malaysia–Philippines East ASEAN Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA), Indonesia–Malaysia–Thailand Growth Triangle (IMT-GT), and the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) in project planning and implementation. It fosters a results-based project management approach that aligns projects to sector strategies.

53rd GMS Tourism Working Group Meeting (TWG-53)

The 53rd GMS Tourism Working Group Meeting (TWG-53) was held on 23 April 2024 in Lijiang, People’s Republic of China (PRC). It was hosted by Bureau of International Exchanges and Cooperation of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of PRC, Yunnan Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism, the People's Government of Lijiang City, and Mekong Tourism Coordinating Office (MTCO), and co-organized by Lijiang Municipal Administration of Culture and Tourism, and Network of International Culturalink Entities. It was attended by senior and mid-level officials representing the National Tourism Organizations (NTOs) of the six Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) countries (Cambodia, PRC, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Thailand-online, and Viet Nam), MTCO, Asian Development Bank (ADB), development partners and organizations including the ASEAN China Centre and ASEAN Japan Centre.


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