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SERI KEMBANGAN (Oct 31): Tourism industry players must play their part in embracing innovative tourism products to make Malaysia a tourism destination, said Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail.
She said the players must ask themselves whether they had strategic plans in place to attract tourists to the country and whether they were ready to provide their best to cater to the taste-buds of foreign guests from different parts of the world.
“Growing the tourism industry in Malaysia is a partnership — one that is forged between the Government and the private sector. Healthy competition is also vital in bringing out the best in each other,” she said in her keynote address before launching the Malaysia Tourism Council Gold Award 2018 gala dinner here tonight.
Dr Wan Azizah explained that it was vital that tourism players value-add to their tourism products and enhance their promotions, so that they would be more attractive, comprehensive and competitive.
She pointed out that in this digital age, Malaysia could no longer promote the country’s tourism potential through traditional means.
“Social media, home-sharing sites and mobile apps are just some of the more creative and proactive means of promoting our tourism products which must be utilised and expanded upon,” she said.
Dr Wan Azizah emphasised that tourism industry players must also be creative enough to compete on the global stage and win the hearts of tourists in choosing Malaysia as their travel destination.
“I believe the government has been proactive in providing the needed infrastructure to promote the country’s tourism industry. In fact, many government agencies have also been established to further strengthen this industry,” she said.
The Deputy Prime Minister highlighted that tourism had become the second largest foreign exchange earner for the country with 25.9 million tourist arrivals and RM82.2 billion in tourism revenue last year and the most number of tourists to Malaysia came from Singapore, followed by Indonesia, China and Thailand.
She said the tourism industry’s contribution to the local economy was approximately 15 per cent and had also created employment opportunities for some 3.2 million people, making up 22.7 per cent of the total employment in Malaysia.
“InsyaAllah, we will achieve our target of 26.4 million tourist arrivals this year and 30 million tourist arrivals by 2020.
“Tourism industry players, however, cannot be complacent with these numbers. New markets such as the Middle East, South America, Australia and New Zealand should be tapped and expanded upon,” she said.
Dr Wan Azizah, who is also the Women, Family and Community Development Minister, also expressed hope that more women would enter the tourism industry as the trend of tourism workforce had changed in 2016 when more than half the employees were women.
She also said it was the government’s wish to assure all investors that Malaysia would remain a strategic partner for their investment plans including the National EcoTourism Plan 2016-2025, which aims to provide for the strategic direction for the development of ecotourism in Malaysia.
She said the Government was also giving RM700,000 in tax exemptions for companies that promote arts and culture.
Meanwhile, Palace of Golden Horses won the Gold Award for Meeting, Incentive, Convention and Exhibition (MICE) Hotel, meanwhile Pullman Putrajaya Lakeside bagged three prestigious awards – the Best Five Star Hotel, the Best Five Star Meetings and Events Venue, as well as Best Outstanding Hotel Personality of the Year.
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