Keeping up to the challenges of tourism in Malaysia

28 Apr 2012 2161 | World Travel News

On a typical sunny Tuesday afternoon, The Malaysian Reserve caught up with the dynamic Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ng Yen Yen.

Despite her busy schedule, this medical doctor turned-politician was in an affable mood, brimming with enthusiasm to talk about Malaysian tourism. She has had a busy day. Just earlier in the day, she launched the logo for the 2012 Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) Annual Conference.

Then she held a press conference to talk about the ministry's hopes in hosting the PATA annual conference on April 21-22. Being a politician, she then rushed off for a Parliamentary sitting.

Immediately after that, she allocated about 25 minutes for this interview, before scooting off to Raub, Pahang, for another tourism promotion activity. Below are the excerpts from the interview.

What are the top three issues concerning air travel and tourism for Malaysia? Firstly, it is accessibility. In order to be the top tourism destination, we must be able to receive tourists directly from other source cities. So, direct flights are very important.

Currently, Malaysia is not really competitive if we compare ourselves in terms of the number of direct flights from Europe and the Americas to Malaysia. So the first big challenge for us is how to get more direct flights from various cities around the world.

If you look at America, we only have one direct flight, from only one city. We have no direct flights from South America. We also have few direct flights from Europe.

The second challenge would be the linkages of the flights. Tour packages now must also look at linking and connecting both international and domestic travels. This is to ensure smooth travelling experience.

The third challenge is to ensure accessibility to more towns and cities in Malaysia. Now we have direct flights to Kota Kinabalu from many parts of Asia like Taiwan and China. Once we have direct accessibility, the city will grow.

Penang is doing well and so is Kota Kinabalu. But we need to replicate the success to locations such as Miri or Kuantan. What is being done to address these issues? Flights are handled by the respective airlines.

The Ministry of Tourism can only lobby and encourage. What we do is we encourage and support chartered flights. As time progresses, the charter flights can be converted to routine flights. That's how we managed to open up many cities in China and in Russia. So the first thing we do is help the airlines with chartered flights.

What are the main points of attraction for Malaysia to emerge as a regional air travel and tourism hub? As a hub, we have very good infrastructure.

Kuala Lumpur International Airport is recognised around the world as one of the top airports. Now we have the light rail transit, rail connection and we have opened up the whole country as far as roads are concerned. Anyone can just rent a car and travel.

Our services are excellent, Malaysians are naturally friendly and hospitable. The Ministry of Tourism has embarked on a very special programme called "Little Ambassadors".

Under the programme, 4,000 taxi drivers from the Klang Valley are appointed to provide tourists with highlights of the area and how to converse with them. We will provide them with one-day training for them to be effective. They are the first contact for tourists.

What's being done to attract tourists arrival from countries that are now emerging as powerhouses, like China and India? We are a country of only 28 million people.

However, we managed to attract 24.7 million tourists last year! This is incredible. We are now No 9 in the world ranking on tourists arrival. The only other Asian country in the top 10 is China, which is at No 4.

Firstly, we promote Truly Asia. What is Malaysia Truly Asia? It is a celebration of diversity, a richness or culture. We use the Truly Asia slogan to invite people to come and see our country.

Secondly, focusing on eco-tourism. Very few people know that over 50% of our land is filled with natural forest. We are one of the largest biodiversity locations on earth. Thousands of species of flora and fauna flourish in Malaysia.

Thirdly, we promote entertainment and events. We have theme parks, shopping centres, and family-oriented places. Of course now we have a new attraction: shopping, shopping and shopping! We have positioned ourselves as a top duty free destination. Now we are coming up with new success stories such as the Johor Premium Outlets.

We have also positioned ourselves as an entertainment and events country. We have Formula One, golf and concerts by international artists. Then, we also have the yearly contemporary arts festival.

We are also focused on business tourism. This is a high-yield segment. An average tourist spends about RM2,400 during his/her stay, hut a business tourist spends RM7000.

Source - pemandu.gov.my