National Tourism Policy should be effectively empowered, industry players say

Tourists take picture outside Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on Tuesday, August 20, 2013. Photo: Sanjit Das/Bloomberg

The policy must be upheld across and be prioritised for it to be relevant and effective, and not to be just ‘another project paper for Motac’

by SHAHEERA AZNAM SHAH / Pic by BLOOMBERG

THE National Tourism Policy (NTP) 2020-2030 needs to be accepted and empowered across various ministries and agencies, said Malaysian Association of Hotels CEO Yap Lip Seng.

He said the policy should not only be just “another project paper for the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture (Motac)”.

“Motac must be given sufficient autonomy to ensure the objectives under the policy are achieved within the set time frame,” Yap said in a statement yesterday.

“The NTP must be upheld across and be prioritised for it to be relevant and effective. A clear example would be the need to drive international arrivals versus immigration controls,” he added.

The government, Yap said, must realise that relaxation of immigration restrictions (visa requirements) plays a major role in driving tourist arrivals. While immigration concerns are valid too, it should be a matter of enforcement and not upfront restrictions.

The NTP launched by Prime Minister (PM) Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin is aimed at regenerating industry revenue through strengthening competitiveness, sustainable tourism sector development and disaster preparedness.

“Malaysia’s total loss in the tourism industry this year is estimated to be more than RM100 billion.

“Despite the efforts to end the pandemic, there are still opportunities for us to improve the quality of services and optimise the use of advanced technologies, such as through video-conferencing and contactless transactions,” the PM said in his speech during the launch yesterday.

Through NTP, Malaysia will create investment zones for tourism projects dubbed as Special Tourism Investment Zones to enhance the public-private cooperation and attract more local and international investors.

“The development of the digital technology-based tourism industry is important to ensure that the objectives of this policy can be achieved.

“Technological advances can also strengthen inter-industry networks and pave the way for new innovative sub-sectors that will create business and employment opportunities,” he said.

The Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents president Datuk Tan Kok Liang welcomed the NTP, but proposed for “the roadmap to be segmented into various phases according to the dynamic business environment”.

“The immediate first three years would be resetting tourism as the whole tourism ecosystem is in the brink of collapse. Reimagining tourism destination strategies, digitalisation, infrastructure development, upskilling, rebranding and repackaging should be emphasised consistent with the new travelling trends and patterns,” he said.

Last year, the tourism industry contributed 15.9% to the country’s GDP worth RM240.2 billion while its employment was recorded at 3.6 million and contributed 23.6% to the overall employment.

The tourism industry globally is among the economic sectors that took the worst hit due to the pandemic, resulting in trillions of losses and a high unemployment rate.