THE BLUEPRINT HAS IMMEDIATE IMPACT

The number of tourists visiting Langkawi in the first five months of this year has increased to 614,000 compared to 549,000 over the same period last year and it is all due to the recent launch of the Langkawi Tourism Blueprint by PM Dato Sri Mohd Najib.

 

Tourist arrivals to the island through the Langkawi International Airport is said to have increased by 11 per cent between January and May, 2012 but it is not certain how many are from abroad.

 

Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop said the increase showed that the launching of the Langkawi Tourism Blueprint by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak last December had a positive effect on this duty-free island.

 

"The blueprint determines the direction of the tourism industry here in increasing tourist arrivals to this resort island," he said when launching the ICT Strategic Plan, I-Link system and Pitch Book MICE of the Langkawi Development Authority (Lada), here, Thursday.

In Malaysia, you just need to launch something and you can see immediate results. Why then spend so much money on promotions.

NICHE MARKETS - WAY OF THE FUTURE

Are we  refocusing our strategies to attract a greater number of niche-market visitors seeking holidays and experiences more in tune with their personal preferences and lifestyles. Four of the key niche markets that offer considerable potential are ecotourism, health & wellness, golf, and  honeymoons. The answer is no.



While  weddings and honeymoons category alone offers tremendous opportunities for neighbouring Thai tourism operators, we seem complacent with whateverr we are doing. India, South Korea, Japan, France, the US and the UAE are rapidly-growing source markets for those who want to get married or celebrate their union in this part of the world.



Niche markets are the way of the future. They provide many new opportunities for doing business with the growing number of specialist travel (consultants), while also feeding business to the increasing number of Malaysian product suppliers in each of these niche markets.



Ecotourism opens up a whole new dimension of possibilities for tourists looking for something really different from their trip to Malaysia



These possibilities include getting closer to nature and the local environment, first-hand cultural experiences, deepening their understanding of Malaysian communities, or actually working to give something back to the communities they visit.

BACKPACKERS AND STUDENT TRAVEL

In Malaysia very little has been done to promote backpackers and student travel. Other than MSL Travel no other agency has taken much initiative to promote this tourism cluster.

There is something we can learn from Thailand. Despite the push for high-yield visitors at this year’s Thailand Travel Mart Plus, the backpacker and student travel markets are still a top priority for the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT).

TAT believe that backpackers and students were integral to industry growth. “Quality tourism does not only mean luxury tourism. It is about how much money the tourists are going to spend, and their average length of stay,” TAT said.

“The average spend per day of the student and backpacker markets may not be a lot, but if you look at the (total) amount of money they spend while they are (in Thailand), it is pretty good, because they are here for so long," he added.

Students and backpackers helped drive up the average length of stay by UK travellers in Thailand to 17.5 days last year, an increase of 1.5 days compared to the year before.

“The average length of stay for the normal tourist is two weeks, so what’s making (up) the difference from 14 days to 17.5 days are the backpackers, who are obviously staying a lot longer,” explained TAT.

This increase in average length of stay has contributed to the growing value of the mature UK market, which is seeing limited growth in absolute terms, but significant growth in revenues generated. The market registered a 1.5-per cent year-on-year increase in arrivals in 2011, with receipts up by 17 per cent over the same period.

MALAYSIA NOT GETTING MOST VALUE

by   KK Tan kktan@thesundaily.com

A RECENT news report quoting figures from the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) suggests that Malaysia is not getting the most value out of foreign tourists visiting the country. According to this report, international tourism receipts from Malaysia and its two neighbours, Thailand and Singapore, over the last two years are as follows :

Malaysia’s tourism revenue of US$18.3 billion (RM58.6 billion) in 2011 remained stagnant despite 5.6 million more tourists visiting Malaysia, compared with Thailand which, despite the floods, had revenue of US$26.3 billion (RM84.2 billion) – US$8 billion (RM25.6 billion) more than Malaysia. A total of 24.7 million tourists came to Malaysia last year compared with 19.1 million who visited Thailand. 

Studies have shown that every tourist dollar spent here has a multiplier effect of 12 times. 

Singapore, with only 13.2 million tourists last year, increased its receipts from US$14.1 billion (RM45.1 billion) in 2010 to US$18 billion (RM57.6 billion) in 2011, almost the same as Malaysia. 

In 2011 (and as before), Malaysia has the highest number of tourist arrivals (24.7 million) for Asean countries, followed by Thailand (19.1 million), Singapore (13.2 million) and Indonesia (7.7 million). 

The above scenario suggests that the country needs to have more high-value tourism products to get more out of foreign tourist spendings, promote local economy and generate greater foreign exchange earnings for the country. 

East Asia, China in particular, and South Asia, India in particular, are clearly projected as the catchment markets for tourists in the very near future. Mainland Chinese alone are expected to register 180 million overseas visits a year from 2015, with most of them heading to Asean. 

This is in addition to the increasing number of wealthy travellers from West Asia who Malaysia is already attracting. 

The Tourism Ministry is responsible for the marketing and promotion of the country on a macro level and is also making efforts to promote certain sub-sectors such as health tourism to generate more arrivals and spendings.  But the ministry has no responsibility for the management, maintenance and development of tourist attractions in the country.

Herein lies the problem. The ministry does not have the budget or the clout to develop high-value new tourism products, which if any, are often undertaken by the private sector.  The government at the highest level and with the co-operation of all other ministries involved should set up a high-powered and action-driven taskforce (co-ordinated by the Tourism Ministry) to spearhead and support strategic tourist projects with the participation of the private sector and all other stakeholders including NGOs, tourist and travel agencies and local communities. 

More thinking “beyond the wall” is needed to find innovative ways to better tap the spendings of tourists who are already coming to our shores. More high-value projects must be explored and supported. More needs to be done by all stakeholders involved in an important and crucial component of our economy.

The writer is the CEO of a strategic think tank and consultancy based in Kuala Lumpur.

RELA - NEW MEMBER OF MATTA

Relawan Malaysia (RELA) has joined MATTA as a full member with additional powers of  making sure suspended members not allowed to enter the meeting hall at Bayview Hotel at Batu Feringgi on Monday. As a result thirteen travel agencies were barred from attending the Malaysian Travel and Tour Agents (Matta) Penang chaper's 18th annual general meeting following their recent suspension by the organisation. The suspensions range from 10 to 15 years.

 

Some argument took place when several operators lost their cool after being told by RELA that they could not attend the meeting. A spokesman for the group, Simon Goh, said those suspended did not realise they were barred from the meeting until they arrived at the venue.

 

"We have every right to attend the meeting as the association only suspended us from participating in its activities but not our membership with the organisation," he said.

 

Goh said the matter arose when several members discovered some discrepancies in the association's accounts and reported the matter to the national body, seeking its intervention to investigate as well as freeze the branch's accounts in February.

 

"The national body wrote to the Penang branch enquiring about the alleged discrepancies and this prompted the branch to issue a show cause letter to those who had complained to the national body," he said, adding that those who had failed to reply were suspended.

 

Goh said the suspension was against the association's constitution and this had been acknowledged by the national body. "We wanted to attend the AGM and explain the issue to the local branch representatives besides trying to find an amicable solution to the matter," he said.

 

Local branch chairman Johari Shafie said the AGM went on smoothly but refused to comment on the alleged discrepancies in the accounts of the chapter and the suspension of the group.