Discover the beauty of Malaysia

Discover the beauty of Malaysia

Tourism in Malaysia has undergone rapid development over the past years. The industry has grown stronger and stronger to become a leading revenue generator as well as making a significant contributor to the nation's economic growth.

As a tourist destination, Malaysia has been attracting millions of visitors over the years. In terms of numbers, 1999 was the best year with 7.93 million tourists, surpassing the all- time high of 7.43 in 1995 as a result of the "Visit Malaysia Year" campaign. As for tourism receipts, Malaysia earned some RM 13.0 billion in 1999, an increase of 44.7 percent over the previous year.

The target set for 2000 is to draw some 8.5 million tourists and 9.0 million in 2001. To achieve this Malaysia has embarked on several specialized campaigns and plans to host selected major world-class events.

Through the support of the government and the Ministry of Culture, Arts and Tourism, Tourism Malaysia, a marketing arm for tourism in Malaysia, will continue to seek new market niches, promote and market Malaysia aggressively as an attractive tourism destination, expand various tourism events and programs and seriously concentrate on the incentive and convention market. All these efforts will certainly expose Malaysia's tourism potential to new dimensions and will complement the efforts of the private and public sectors in accelerating and spurring the growth of tourism.

For the period of 1987 to 1996, tourism recorded an impressive growth in tourist arrivals from 3.3 million in 1987 to 7.1 million in 1996. Over the same period, tourism receipts also increased markedly from RM 1.8 billion to RM 10.3 billion in 1996. The most significant growth was achieved in 1990 and 1994 due to the intensive efforts of the government in mounting the "Visit Malaysia Year" campaign for both years.

The 1997 to 1998 period was a difficult year for Malaysia. Chronologically, the year started off with plaguing diseases like dengue, which hit Penang, followed by Coxsackie B viral epidemic, killing more than 30 children in Sarawak, and cholera in Sabah.

As the epidemic diseases subsided, Malaysia came face to face with the biggest problem ever threatening the country's economic credibility.

The Asian economic crisis was felt as early as July 1997 soon after the Thai baht was floated, a result of vicious attacks from currency speculators. The Kuala Lumpur stock exchange was not spared either, as the shares tumbled to more than a third of its original value. At the same time, due to the uncontrolled open burning of forests, haze began to envelop and blanket the country and most other ASEAN regions. On July 31 of the same year, haze was classified as a national disaster.

As a result of the contagion effect of the economic crisis, Malaysia recorded a corresponding decline of tourist arrivals and receipts in 1997 and 1998 respectively.

In fact, global tourism recorded a slowdown of inter and intra-regional travel during the same period.

Total tourist arrivals in Malaysia fell 10.6 percent from 6.21 million (1997) to 5.55 million (1998). The decline had affected income from tourism resources, which dropped -- 11.5 percent from RM 9.69 billion (1997) to 8.58 billion (1998).

For Malaysia, 1999 was the best year with 7.93 million tourists who visited the country. The 1999 achievement constitutes a hefty 42.9 percent increase over that of 1998. Traditionally, Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia ranked the top three contributors with Singapore having more than 50 percent of the total market share of tourist arrivals to Malaysia.

The National Economic Action Committee (NEAC) set up by the government to find ways to jump start the Malaysia economy after the economic crisis have identified tourism as a sector that can help boost the nation's recovery in a short term.

Under the NEAC's recommendations, an additional RM 150 million is allocated to promote Malaysia as a premier tourist destination.

The priorities for tourism is to increase tourist arrivals over the short-term period through intensified target marketing in key regional markets besides reinforcing and expanding the image of the country as a desirable holiday destination.

The year ahead is crucial for Malaysian tourism. The tourism strategy for the coming years will include the following:

*To reposition Malaysia as a top destination in all regional and international markets through an aggressive brand-imaging campaign under a new slogan: Malaysia Truly Asia

Malaysia is the only country where one can witness the amalgam of three of Asia's oldest civilizations -- the Malays with an Arabic influence, the Chinese and the Indian or Hindu civilization.

One can also witness the assimilation of other cultures into the fabric of society -- the ethnic cultures of Sabah and Sarawak, the influence of the Dutch, the Portuguese, the British and to a certain extent, the Thai in the northern states of Peninsular Malaysia.

Malaysia is the essence of Asia. This is the unique selling proposition and will be reflected through our international tourism marketing campaign from now until the years to come.

*To embark on an aggressive tactical campaign directed at getting the best possible return within the shortest possible period by concentrating our efforts in markets that are not affected by the economic downturn, eg. the Middle East and Europe.

*To undertake niche marketing, i.e. maximizing tourism benefits through the hosting of major world events namely the F1 Grand Prix and the World Cup Golf to further enhance and expand Malaysia's international image.

*To maximize the benefits of tourism through the lengthening of visitors' stays. Thus, besides the various initiatives undertaken by the states, Malaysia has drawn up a comprehensive calendar of events for the year 2000 for the benefits of travelers to its shores. Such events include organizing three large-scale shopping carnivals in March, August and December, the Colors of Malaysia Festival (over a month of festivities whereby travelers to Malaysia will have the experience of being accorded the warm traditional welcome and hospitality we are known for) and a nationwide water festival and fruit fiesta.

Currently, Malaysia has over 1,400 hotels of different classes throughout the country with a total of 115,000 rooms. By the year 2000, 11 new hotels properties will come online offering an additional 5,000 rooms.

With an average occupancy rate slightly over 50 percent, Malaysia is therefore in a position to sustain any sudden increase in the inflow of tourist traffic now and in the immediate future.

With regard to meeting, incentive, convention and exhibition (MICE) industries, Malaysia is also positioning itself to gain a good share of the business.

This year, Malaysia is hosting the Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministries, which will involve 56 countries.

Based on the strategic action plan highlighted above, Malaysia hopes to be able to drive the industry back to the glory of its former years.