MELAKA, June 28 (Bernama) -- Malaysia will focus on drawing tourists from two of its neighbours, Singapore and Indonesia, due to a drop in foreign tourist arrivals in the country following the Influenza A(H1N1) outbreak.
Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ng Yen Yen said the announcement by the World Health Organisation of a pandemic had resulted in people all over the world cancelling their travel plans or bookings.
She said Singapore and Indonesia were chosen for the promotional programme as they were Malaysia's closest neighbours and were aware that the Influenza A (H1N1) situation in Malaysia was not as alarming as in other countries in the region.
"Malaysia is affected too as according to the feedback from tour agents, there has been a drop of up to 20 per cent in the number of tourists from China, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan going overseas compared to the same period last year," she said after a briefing with the Melaka Tourism Action Council, here, today.
Dr Ng said while foreign tourist arrivals in the country were "badly affected" by the Influenza A(H1N1) outbreak, there was however a rise in domestic tourism.
She said her ministry would hold a tourism crisis management meeting tomorrow with the industry players in facing the Influenza A(H1N1) situation.
"This is our first meeting this year where we will draw up strategies to attract foreigh tourists, the number of whom is expected to drop this month and in July," she added.
Their last meeting was in December last year due to travel problems following the closure of the Bangkok International Airport amid Thailand's political turmoil.
Dr Ng said there was a 20 per cent drop in the number of Malaysians holidaying abroad this month as they were worried about the Influenza A(H1N1) situation in the affected countries.
She said the target of 20 million foreign tourist arrivals in Malaysia this year might not be achieved but drop to 15 million, due to the current global economic crisis and the Influenza A(H1N1) outbreak.
On tourism in Melaka, Dr Ng said she was satisfied with the performance because with a population of only 750,000, Melaka received 7.2 tourists last year, bringing the population-tourist ratio to 1:10.
"This is a very good achievement by the state government which has on its own, held tourism promotional programmes abroad, including in Indonesia and Singapore."
She said Melaka which had 160 tourism products would be carrying out a programme of upgrading its tourism infrastructure and adding value to its products, such as the Taman 1,000 Bunga (Garden of 1,000 Flowers) in Ayer Keroh, which showcases a myriad species of flowering and herbal plants.
Source
No comments:
Post a Comment