The star.com.my, September 23, 2006
It’s Malaysia’s major income earner, but are we doing everything we can to nurture the tourism sector, asks DEEPAK GILL.
TOURISM is big bucks, especially for a country like Malaysia, where a huge chunk of our country’s income is from foreign visitors.
Tourism is now the country’s second biggest economic contributor after the manufacturing sector, with US$9.2bil (RM35bil) from 16.4 million tourists last year. Worldwide, tourism grew by almost 10% in 2004, generating US$623bil!
(Tourism income includes all transactions and consumption by the visitor, like lodging, food and drinks, fuel, transport in the country, entertainment, shopping, etc.)
Malaysia has been fortunate. We have nature, food and, to some extent, shopping as attractions. The push for tourism began in the mid-80s, and has been relentless since. However, tourism is a lot more sophisticated these days, and tourism authorities need to keep up. It’s also a very sensitive and unforgiving industry, so care must be taken.
Tourists have a lot of choices these days. Within the region, Thailand and Singapore are well-known destinations. Although we’re getting more visitors than them, tourists spend a lot more per person in Thailand and Singapore – something our leaders need to think about. Also, of the 16.4 million tourists to Malaysia last year, 9.6 million were from Singapore.
Tourism is generally a well looked after industry in Malaysia, but there are issues that need to be looked into as Visit Malaysia Year 2007 approaches.
Eco-waste
The country’s best asset for the future is probably eco-tourism, which remains undeveloped. The same tired destinations are pushed – where else but the National Park (Taman Negara), Mulu Caves and Mt Kinabalu, one for each region of the country. It seems there are no better options.
These attractions are hundreds of kilometres apart. Tourists coming into Kuala Lumpur who want a nature-based experience will invariably end up in the National Park, and not out of choice. Activities there are extremely limited: you can’t even raft on the river. The park does not feel like a tourist-friendly one and can get claustrophobic due to lack of space and sceneries.
There are many forests that are a lot more beautiful just outside the city. Organisations like the Malaysian Nature Society (MNS) know all about these. Smaller parks located all over the country, with adequate information, facilities and guides, would be a lot more useful and convenient.
Unfortunately, we don’t seem to appreciate the treasures we have. Many smaller forests fall to logging. World-class white water rafting rivers get spoilt because of logging or dams. The Selangor River in Kuala Kubu Baru used to bring in thousands of tourists and millions of dollars due to its rafting potential. Top international rafters rated it very highly, and it was extremely accessible.
Then a damn was built upstream. The developers, Gamuda Bhd and Splash, promised that rafting would continue and improve but the attraction is suffering now. In places like Cameron Highlands and Fraser’s Hill, development and other activities are likewise destroying the assets of the place.
