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Saturday November 7, 2009

Initiatives to think and act tourism

AT YOUR SERVICE BY DATUK ONG HONG PENG


When the going gets tough, the tough get going. This saying applies to everyone, especially those in the industry.

ONE may wonder how tough can the tourism landscape get? To fathom, imagine how policy makers and industry players jostled to tackle the issues confronting the travel industry today. This is the first time in history that the industry was faced with the global economic slowdown, an infectious disease pandemic and high fuel prices.

In addressing these challenges, the Govern­ment has set up a tourism crisis management committee comprising industry players, non-governmental associations and relevant stakeholders to undertake swift and proactive measures.

Numerous initiatives which entail reassurance and promotion missions, tactical marketing campaigns, service delivery enhancements and industry collaboration programmes are being implemented.

These initiatives are to mitigate concerns about security and health as well as portray Malaysia as a value-for-money destination.

The tourism industry has received encouraging responses from these initiatives.

The statistics for August indicated that international arrivals surpassed the milestone of two million tourists in a month, an increase of 10.4% compared with the same period last year.

Tourist arrivals from January to August stood at 15.38 million, an increase of 4.4% compared with 14.73 million for the same period last year.

The strong performance demonstrates that Malaysia’s tourism industry is indeed resilient, healthy and thriving.

On reflection, this notable achievement is mainly due to Malaysia being a tourism-friendly nation. This is based on the character and charm of Malaysia. Our resilience as a nation and our hospitality enabled us to weather the storm and to achieve greater heights.

The Malaysia Welcomes the World (MWW) campaign, which was introduced by the Tourism Ministry in 2007, has prepared the country to receive tourists.

Conceived to transform Malaysia into a more tourist-friendly nation, its objectives were to change the mindsets of Malaysians to not only think tourism but more importantly, act tourism.

Through the MWW programme, more than 20,000 front-liners were trained on how to become gracious hosts.

In essence, all facets of the community make the real front-liners in the tourism industry.

Tourism is the second largest foreign ex­change earner, bringing in RM49.6bil last year.

In addition, it is a multi-sectored industry which consists of transportation, accommodation, restaurants, recreation, entertainment, retailers, handicraft and tour agencies.

The multitude of industry linkages brings significant benefits in terms of employment and income creation.

In 2007, the tourism industry provided employment for almost one million people, generating a total output or revenue of RM103bil.

Tourism also provides a platform for realising socio-economic and distributive benefit policies.

Community-based tourism principles are applied in the implementation of homestay and eco-tourism programmes.

Community-based tourism strengthens the ability of rural communities to manage tourism resources, earn their own income while ensuring local participation.

The homestay concept offers tourists an experience to learn firsthand the culture, heritage and lifestyle of Malaysia.

This programme involves the participation of the rural community in providing experiential learning activities such as rubber tapping, traditional songs, dance and crafts as well as serving local dishes.

Currently, there are 140 homestay programmes, participated by 3,287 operators.

In the first half of the year, an additional income of RM5mil was generated from these homestay operators.

The operators have been trained to attend to guests, learn the basics of several foreign languages, meal preparation methods and housekeeping.

Welcoming tourists to our nature and eco-sites has also been given due importance.

Towards this end, ecotourism has been developed as a niche tourism product. It produces income and employment for the local communities while encouraging conservation and sustainable tourism development.

The Indigenous Community Tourism Pack­ages were formed based on the ecotourism concept. In the first six months of the year, 3,446 packages were sold generating a revenue of RM165,000. This mainly benefited the orang asli community.

“Malaysia Welcomes the World” is a tagline that applies not only to international tourists but also domestic tourists.

Due priority is accorded to expanding our domestic tourism base. Domestic tourists provide the critical mass of demand to support a vibrant tourism industry.

Cuti-cuti 1Malaysia campaigns and travel fairs are organised to raise awareness of our amazing domestic destinations.

Malaysia offers a unique blend of multi-cultural and multi-ethnic groups.

No matter the winds of change and storms of competition, our own unique selling proposition in the business of tourism lies within us and in the makings of our society as Malaysians to think and act tourism.

Bottomline, the prosperity of the tourism industry is anchored in the prosperity of our mar­­­ket, our culture and our oneness in embracing and making Malaysia a great nation.

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