Gearing up for Visit Malaysia 2020
SINCE Pakatan Harapan’s win in the 14th General Election, the outlook for Malaysia’s tourism industry, which makes up an important part of the country’s economy, remains bright despite some challenges.
Malaysia is targeting a 30 million tourist turnout and RM100bil in tourist receipts next year in conjunction with Visit Malaysia 2020 (VM2020).
While things have been relatively quiet policy wise, some solid foundations have been laid to herald the grand tourism promotions slated for next year.
Tourist expenditure saw an increase despite a slight drop in arrivals. Tourist receipts for 2018 stood at RM84.1bil, a 2.4% increase from RM82.2bil in 2017.
But overall, international tourist arrivals dropped 0.4% to 25.8 million (25,833,354) last year from 25.9 million (25,948,459) in 2017.
Tourism Malaysia director-general Datuk Musa Yusof attributed the drop in arrivals to the lack of airline connectivity.
According to Musa, Tourism Malaysia is currently looking at increasing long-haul flights because these are the markets that spend the most during their stay in Malaysia.
Shopping remained the biggest component of tourist expenditure, followed by accommodation as well as food and beverages. The average length of stay increased to 6.5 nights last year, compared to 5.7 nights in 2017.
Another key development in the country’s tourism industry over the past year was when Malaysia was made official partner at ITB Berlin, the world’s biggest annual tourism trade fair.
It was a significant milestone in the run-up to the VM2020 campaign as ITB Berlin attracts some 100,000 visitors from all over the world.
Another notable event was the signing of a Memorandum of Joint Collaboration with Tourism Malaysia, Malaysia Airports and Condor Airlines.
This collaboration is set to increase connectvity between Germany and Malaysia.
In addition, six historical buildings and structures were gazetted as national heritage buildings last year, namely Kuala Lumpur’s Sultan Abdul Samad Mosque, Melaka’s A Famosa, Kelantan’s Istana Jahar, Melaka’s Stadthuys and the Information Department Building and High Court Building in Kuala Lumpur.