KUCHING: Tourism Malaysia continues its Cuti-Cuti Malaysia campaign to revive the domestic tourism sector.
Tourism Malaysia deputy director-general Iskandar Mirza Mohd Yusof said this is to drive the recovery of the country’s economy and to prevent cash flow out of the country.
According to the 2021 Domestic Tourism Survey conducted by the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM), Iskandar said the number of domestic tourist arrivals in 2021 dropped by 49.9 per cent with a total of 66 million tourists from 131.7 million tourists or a decline by 72.4 per cent in the previous year when compared to before the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Domestic tourism expenditure in 2021 also decreased by 54.5 per cent to RM18.4 billion compared to RM40.4 billion in 2020.
“Through the campaign, we can also see the changing trends of Malaysians today which is more focused on products with the concept of nature, experiential tourism, Instagramable and gastronomy,” he said ahead of officiating at the Cross Region Promotion Roadshow with East Coast tourism industry players in Sarawak held at Pullman Hotel, yesterday (Dec 14).
On the roadshow, he said the programme is the best platform for tourism industry players from the East Coast to establish cooperation and hold business discussions with tourism industry players in Sarawak
“This programme is one of the efforts to reinvigorate tourism activities on the East Coast as well as promote the states on the East Coast as one of the preferred destinations for domestic tourists in Sarawak.
“With direct two-way flights between Kota Bharu and Kuching for three times a week, it not only facilitates travel to Kelantan but these tourism packages can also be developed more easily covering the states of Pahang and Terengganu,” he added.
The roadshow is a response to the first series of the ‘Jom Ke Sarawak’ roadshow which took place in Kota Bharu, Kelantan and Penang last May.
This programme aims to attract tourists from Sarawak to travel to states in the Eastern Region such as Pahang, Terengganu and Kelantan through the business-to-business (B2B) sessions by industry players and tour operators.
A total of six hotels, one travel agency and one homestay from Kelantan, Terengganu and Pahang were involved in the roadshow.
