MALAYSIA, MY HOLIDAY HOME!
There must be more than just taglines to promote Malaysia as a tourist destination
They function very much like an independent food tourism agency! Perhaps these indie portals can be engaged by the Tourism, Arts and Culture Ministry to help in next year’s Visit Malaysia Year campaign.
Does everyone know that next year is Visit Malaysia Year 2020? The first VMY was in 1990, which caught the imagination of many people in and outside the country.
This was followed by VMY 1994, 2014 and 2017. I thought they were too close to each other. If I recall correctly, VMYs were supposed to be activated every 10 years to make them meaningful and significant. When they are too close, they lose their shine and become ordinary.
There was plenty of excitement for VMY 1990. In fact, some individuals led by Datuk Nadzim Johan formed Kelab Cinta Malaysia to help promote the year-long initiative. (Nadzim is now a consumer activist with the Muslim Consumers Association).
Members of KCM served as volunteers to act as tourist guides and information disseminators. They responded to queries from local and foreign tourists and helped to make the campaign a success.
Tourism is a year-round business and needs frequent and regular promotions. It’s about branding, product awareness, visibility. It’s all of the above. If we stop promoting, then expect fewer tourist arrivals.
The plan is to attract about 36 million tourists by 2020, giving us a revenue of almost RM170 billion. Will we be depending on the tagline “Malaysia Truly Asia” and the other one liner “To Know Malaysia is to Love Malaysia”?
When this tagline was first introduced, it triggered quite an excitement.
And it went well with the other one. The question I often hear now is — will there be a new tagline? Is this tagline still able to attract the big spenders?
Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Datuk Mohamaddin Ketapi and his team must give serious thought to this. Honestly, we haven’t heard much from the minister and his team. To be fair, the senior people in the ministry should be able to stir some excitement pending the launch of VMY 2020. Right?