Malaysia seeks to earn more dollars from tourism

Press, 26 April 1988, Page 5

Malaysia seeks to earn more dollars from tourism

NZPA-Reuter Kuala Lumpur Malaysia dreams of tourist dollars but is unj sure row to shed its image as the Plain Jane of South-East Asia with scores of drug offenders on det th row. "Maaysia has everything but doesn’t know how to sell itselL” said Dario Regazzoni. vicepresid mt of the country’s Hotel Association. Mos: of the other five members of the Association df South-East Aslan Natiors (A.S.E.A.N.) have been quick to turn tourism into! a big foreign excha ige! earner. Indonesia offers an image) of grace and beauty. Singapore cheap shopping,'and Thailand an exotic| Buddhist culture and. on the seamier side, sex tours.

Even the Philippines, beset by insurgency and a restive army. attracts more high-spending West- , em and Japanese tourists | than Malaysia, according j to statistics compiled by I the idea! Tourist Development | Corporation. One of the reasons Malaysia lags behind is that tnany tourists see it as aldour Muslim nation that hangs drugs traffickers. industry officials say.

| Visitors are told on their entry forms that they face the death penalty if they traiffic in drugs. The warning appears on posters throughput the former | British colony. ‘ “Personally. Il think drug traffickers should be i hanged.” said one) foreign hotelier. “But it’s bad public relations.” | I Wan Mahmud Ahmad, a tourism lecturer |at the E.lara Institute of [Techno-1 ogy,[which trains people, o wiork in hotels, says many people simply do (not know where Malaysia is. 1 / ■! .- ] .

| “When we talk ofl [Malaysia, we have to! 'mention Singapore or (even Vietnam to give! people an idea (of where it is).” he said. I

Part of the problem is that 1 Malaysia has only recently begun Ito take , tourism seriously. For ! years tourist promotion (fell under the Ministry of [Trade and Industry and a i full-fledged Ministry of 'Tourism was set[ up only (last May. I “For a long time Malaysia was doing very well — posting 8 and 9 |per cent (economic) growth —- without tourism. [We have a ibt of commodities,’, said the Tourism! Minister ' • i I

Datuk Sabbaruddip Chik. Malaysia only began to realise tourism’s importance when th? prjioes for its commodities such as tin. palm oil, rubber and oil plummetted ini the

mid-1980s. Now. said Sabbaniddin. he wants to | pt sh: the industry to fourth place from fifth as' a foreign exchange earner by the 19905.

Government off cials increasingly extol tpe sandy beaches of 1 peninsular Malaysia, the ljungles and rare wildlife (ound in the East Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak and the unique history of the port town of Malacca. Some 3.3 million visitors came to (Malaysia in 1987 and spent 1 9 billion ringgit (SUS76O (million), according to , the Tourist Development Corporation. Estimates put (he number of visitors in 1988 at between 3.4! ' and 3.5 millicn.

Sabbaruddin’s | Ministry has allocated 100 million ringgit (SUS4O I million) for tourist promotion this year. 40 per cent! of which will be spent on: overseas advertising. I 1

“A lot of countries have a lot of one thing, but not many have | a j little of everything," [Sabbaruddin

said. "The fzet that (Malaysia) is multi-racial and mtilti-religioiis. that is very important from a tourism .point of view.”. Nearly 80 peq cent of Malaysia’s visiters come from A.S.E.A.N. nations, mainly i Singapore. Many of these are whpt Regazzoni calls "causeway tourists” — people who cross the causeway from Singapore to peninsular Malaysia for a day trp.

To attract big-spenders from Europe. Australia. Japan.! the United States and the MiddlepEast, the country will have to become more accessible.

”To have an qpen country. you must also have open skies.” said Jan Oudendijk. who, manages the Hilton Hotel; in Malaysia's capital. Kuala Lumpur. Malaysia receives only 77 international flights a week compared with 344 into Singapore! and 262 into Thailand, j

Regazzoni feels that rather than trying to promote the whole country, the Government should focus on specific areas like the islands) of Penang and Langkawi bn pensinsular Malaysia's (west coast. It should also) push regional tours with other A.S.E.A.N. countries.