The Tourism Minister has said that more funds are needed for advertising and promotional activities in the upcoming Budget, saying its allocation has remained the same for the past 10 years despite increases in tourist arrival.
While the latter is correct, the former is not true. Money spent on advertising and promotion has been on an increase ever since she took over as Tourism Minister.
Datuk Seri Dr Ng Yen Yen said this when launching the bus advertising campaign in Singapore yesterday.
The Minister said from 2000 to 2010, the budget of RM200 million has remained while tourist arrivals had grown from 10 million to 24 million. Again this is not true on both counts.
"I understand that the Government has its priorities, especially with regards to education and healthcare for the people. But with an increased budget, I will be able to intensify our promotional efforts in China , India , Middle East and also Russia ," she said at the launch of the bus advertising campaign involving 55 buses here yesterday.
Dr Ng said the RM200-million allocation was used to upkeep the 44 Tourism offices worldwide. By saying so she is hitting the nail right on its head. Why not cut the number to half and the money saved can be used for other development purposes in other sectors.
"I will only ask for what is realistic and we need to do more advertising and promotion to tell the world about Malaysia as a lot of people still do not know about the country," she said, stressing that tourism in Singapore was doing well.
We all know very well that there has been abuses in the use of the A & P budget and the Auditor General should have moved in to the Ministry to do an audit.
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