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The time to visit Malaysia is now
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MALAYSIA is celebrating 50 years
of independence this year and has declared 2007
as Visit Malaysia Year. The south east Asian state
promotes itself as a family destination
offering theme and game parks for children, great
cost effective shopping experiences and lots of
entertainment for all ages, combined with verdant
hills, mountains and greenery. Malaysia has it
all.
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Malaysia’s Minister of Tourism
Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor said that each
of the 13 states of the federation has its own attraction
and uniqueness. However, for the Visit Malaysia Year
the promotions are being focused on major events and
festivals that will be organised throughout the year.
Excerpts from the interview Datuk Adnan gave for this
special report:
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Question:
What are some of the key changes that you have noticed
with regards to tourism in Malaysia over the past few
years?
Answer: The tourism industry is an
important sector for the Malaysia economy. As the second
largest foreign exchange earning sector, it has helped
the Malaysian economy grow from strength to strength..
Under the Ministry, the tourism industry has continued
to perform favourably as reflected in the growth arrivals
and tourist receipts.
Our infrastructure is of world standards. The number
of hotels has increased from 1,090 in 1993 to 2,269
in 2005. Many of them have excellent meeting and conference
facilities. Hence with an average occupany between 60-70
per cent, Malaysia is in a position to sustain any sudden
increase in tourist traffic in the immediate future.
In the context of Tourist arrivals the West Asian Markets
have grown substantially since we stepped in from 1999.
Tourist arrivals from West Asia for the first eight
months of this year recorded 138,611 compared
to only 113,339 tourist arrivals for the same period
in 2005, thus representing an increase of 22.3 per cent.
The robust tourism industry has in a way influenced
the debut of AIRASIA as the nation's first low cost
carrier providing exceptionally low fares to both domestic
and regional travellers.
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Q:
How has tourism grown in Malaysia over the start
of the new millennium?
A: The industry has come a long
way from the setback experienced following the
Asian Financial Crisis of 1997/1998 when tourist
arrivals were at its lowest at 5.5 million to
reach a new record high of 16.4 million arrivals
in 2005 and total estimated foreign exchange earnings
of USD8.6 billion (RM32 billion).
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Tourist arrivals increased
at an average rate of 10 per cent per annum, surpassing
the target of 6.9 per cent.
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Q:
What are the key cities that you are
focusing on with regards to your promotional campaign?
A: We have 13 states in Malaysia
and each state has its own capital. I can guarantee
you that each capital has its own attraction and
uniqueness. However, in the context of promotions,
we are focusing more on the niche products whereby
we encourage product owners and operators to develop
services and products suitable for international
markets.
We continue to promote health tourism, Malaysia
My Second Home programme and education tourism.
Malaysia has successfully established itself as
a regional hub for excellent health care, capable
of providing state-of-the-art medical facilities
and services for health tourists.
As for Malaysia My Second Home Programme, it has
attracted more than 9,00 participants so far.
The highest number of participants is from China
(1,779), followed by Bangladesh (1,088), UK (&&£),
Taiwan (558), Singapore (510), Indonesia (409),
India (390), Japan 356), Pakistan (257), Hong
Kong (218), UAS (206), South Korea (148) and Australia
(124). From January until August 2006, the programme
has received an additional 2,581 participants.
Besides that, sports tourism is also important.
Hence, we will assist sports associations and
private sports event promotors organising world-class
sporting events such as the PETRONAS F1 Malaysian
Grand Prix, F1 Powerboat World Championship, yachting
and selling such as the Sailasia Yacht Rally and
Monsoon Cup, equestrian, and other leisure sports.
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Our home-stay programme is
unique as it offers foreign visitors a chance
to experience the lifestyle and ambience of a
traditional Malaysian Kampung or village. To date
there are about 1,089 participating traditional
houses located in 79 villages nationwide.
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Q: A gist
of the programmes that you have undertaken to increase
the influx of overseas tourists in Malaysia?
A: In an effort to further increase
the influx of overseas tourists to Malaysia, all our
programmes are more focused and aligned to the needs
of the market.
We plan to increase the level of awareness of our niche
products and to encourage product owners and operators
to develop services and products suitable for international
markets. Among the niche products being promote aggressively
are Education Tourism, Health Tourism, Sports Tourism,
Marine Tourism, Eco Tourism and Malaysia : My Second
Home programme.
The ministry is giving due emphasis to markets of great
potential by implementing extension publicity and promotion
campaigns on Malaysia, under the theme ‘Malaysia
Truly Asia.’ Emphasis will be given to continuously
upgrade the quality of existing products as well as
develop new products to cater for the diverse interest
and demands to tourists.
We also facilitate strategic alliances with airlines
to promote charters, stopover packages and increase
services to Malaysia.
We use official events such as National Water Festival,
Colours of Malaysia Month and the international-level
sports events such as F! Grand Prix, A1 Grand Prix,
FEI World Cup and Monsoon Cup as leverage to enhance
the image of Malaysia as a desirable holiday destination.
Over the last two years, our focus is on preparing for
the Visit Malaysia Year 2007 campaign. The campaign
is aimed at aggressively promoting Malaysia, increasing
tourist arrivals, as well as encouraging domestic tourism
among Malaysians. Coincidentally, 2007 is also the year
of Malaysia's 50th Independence from British rule. As
such, the Visit Malaysia Year campaign is a timely event
to celebrate Malaysia’s golden jubilee.
The Ministry of Tourism will continue the effort to
develop and promote eco-tourism according to the strategies
and guideline in the Nationl Eco-tourism Plan and we
will also continue to work closely with other
relevant ministries and agencies as well as local and
international Non-Governmental Organisations in order
to develop a sustainable eco-tourism development in
the country.
In a way, the diversity of Malaysia has led to the rapid
development of many tourism products, allowing us to
cater to almost any kind of visitors. We are positive
that we will be able to achieve the target of 20.1 million
tourists for 2007 that we have set and foresee a better
mix of tourists visiting Malaysia.
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Q:
A summary of feedback that you have received from a
first timer in visiting the country?
A: Last year, Tourism Malaysia had
embarked on a new project which was a part of its effort
to promote the country to the Europeans. The new Tourism
Malaysia web site was launched with interactive feature
that allows visitors to discover Malaysia through the
eyes of fellow Europeans. It’s an additional avenue
to promote the country as an outstanding tourist destination
for the European market complementing campaign materials
available on screen and in print.
The website www.tourismmalaysia.gov.my
is designed to be the gateway for European travellers
to not only obtain valuable information on travelling
to Malaysia but also an avenue to share experience of
their enchanting discoveries and to enjoy Malaysia at
home. The level of interactivity of the website is further
enhanced in 2006 as potential tourists are invited to
submit their itinerary for a chance to win a trip to
discover Malaysia and their travel itinerary for a chance
to win a trip to discover Malaysia and their experiences
in the website upon returning home.
A young Swedish couple had this to say about their first
visit to Malaysia, “All three of us felt incredibly
positive after our holiday” maybe it was the sun,
the healthy food, the luxuries spa, the natural environment,
or maybe it was a combination of all. Yes, it was combination
of all. Yes, it was all but the most important ingredient
was the warmth of the people we met and who looked after
us. They made us all laugh and laughter is infectious.
None of it was staged; it all appeared to come from
the heart, like these people really meant it. We concluded
that Malaysia has to be one of the best places in the
world to travel with a baby. To read more about other
travelers’ experience while holidaying in Malaysia,
you can log on to our website at www.tourismmalaysia.gov.my
Q:
Visiting for a vacation is one thing. What steps have
you taken to ensure that the tourists keep coming year
after year to Malaysia?
A: The development of innovative products
and service are encouraged to cater for varying interests
and preference of tourists to ensure that tourists will
keep coming back to Malaysia. The travel and tour agencies
are also encouraged to improve the design, attractiveness
and marketing of travel packages, paying particular
attention to special interests quality and pricing to
meet varying demands of travelers.
Cultural attractions will continue to be promoted to
showcase Malaysia‚s diverse ethnic and cultural
festivals. Food can also be used as a tourist attraction
which is why we are also promoting Malaysia as a gourmet
paradise in view of the wide variety of food available
owing to its multi-ethnic population. In this regard,
innovative food trails on distinct specialties of states,
regions and communities are being developed to attract
tourists to savour local delicacies.
Malaysians are well-known for their warmth, friendliness
and caring attitude which is a very important factor
to attract tourists to return to Malaysia. That is why
the Government came out with a preparatory programme
known as Malaysia Welcomes The World.
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