VIEWPOINT
The Malaysia Tourism Promotion Board (Tourism Malaysia), which is the marketing arm of the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture (Motac), compile and post information in its website, including foreign tourist arrival figures and estimated tourism receipts.
These statistics are often released on a quarterly basis. For example, tourist arrival figures for the last quarter of 2018 were released in late February this year. Last year, Malaysia received 25,832,254 foreign tourists, a slight drop compared to the previous year.
Every end of June, the Department of Statistics would release the Domestic Tourism Survey for the previous calendar year and the numbers are staggering. In 2017 for example, there were 205.4 million domestic visitors making 276.1 million trips and spending over RM83.1 billion.
Many people may have jumped on the tourism bandwagon based on impressive figures, including 36 million foreign tourists spending RM168 billion by 2020, as stated in the Malaysia Tourism Transformation Plan announced in 2010.
However, it is essential for current and future investors to understand some basic terms in tourism. Even experienced industry players, including those helming tourism associations, may not be clear on how foreign tourist arrival figures are recorded.
Under the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO), a visitor (domestic, inbound or outbound) is classified as a tourist (or overnight visitor) if his or her trip includes an overnight stay, or as a same-day visitor (or excursionist).
In other words, foreigners entering Johor overland and staying overnight, irrespective on the number of nights, are counted as tourists each time they enter the country. At its peak, Singaporeans contributed 13,932,967 foreign tourists in 2014, including those staying in their own properties or extended families in Malaysia.
According to the Domestic Tourism Survey 2017, 76.7 per cent of the RM83.1 billion spent were on shopping, food and beverage, fuel and in the household visited. Only 8.6 per cent were on paid accommodation, but hoteliers combined pocketed more than RM7.1 billion.
Less than three per cent were on expenses before the trips, packages, entrance fees and tickets. In other words, the overwhelming majority of domestic visitors are into Do-It-Yourself (DIY) arrangements without using the service of tour operators.
New tour operators are granted licences for ‘Inbound Tour Operations’, which include domestic tours, before they could apply for ‘Outbound Tour Operations’ licence later. Many applicants granted new licences have not worked in the travel industry, including those tasked to manage the business, and the market for domestic tour packages is small.
This is because 73 per cent of all trips made by domestic visitors are for shopping or visiting relatives and friends, and these included ‘Balik Kampung’, a local term to describe the massive exodus from cities to hometowns and villages during festive seasons.
The 2014 Domestic Tourism Survey segregated excursionists (day-trippers) with tourists (overnight visitors), with the former at 64 per cent and the latter 36 per cent. While these surveys confirm the growth of domestic tourism, tour operators ought to understand the figures better.
Likewise, Tourism Malaysia should compile and release useful statistics swiftly so that tourism players can better plan their strategies. In the absence of such information, many are investing blindly or through gut feelings. But surely, we can do better than that.
Let us start with foreign tourist arrival figures. They should be released monthly as soon as they are ready without the customary practice of tabling at the Cabinet before releasing several months’ figures at a time. In this way, we can be more proactive by responding without delay.
The figures should not be limited to top 40 countries and the rest of the world combined. They should indicate whether foreigners entered via our international airports, by land as in border crossings or by sea such as cruises. Those arriving by air would greatly interest tour operators.
Likewise, it will help travel agencies and outbound tour operators tremendously if the number of Malaysians leaving and returning to the country for each month, particularly by air, is made known. If empowered, many Malaysians travelling to overseas could invite foreigners to visit our country.
Foreigners entering our country by rail or road are mainly from Singapore, Thailand and Brunei and most do not require the service of local tour operators. While cruise ships that berth at our Malaysian ports benefit tour operators, hoteliers have little to gain unless it is a home port.
The Department of Immigration exercises tight control on millions of foreigners and Malaysians entering and leaving the country monthly. Since records are computerised, it should automatically total up the figures at the end of each calendar month.
The department could forward such data, minus sensitive information that could affect safety and security, to Tourism Malaysia, which can then release statistics within the first week of each month without having to wait or spend time massaging the figures, which would be pointless.
Foreign tourist arrival figures should not be limited to top 40 countries. It should include all nationalities in the Immigration Department’s record so that tour operators could identify and develop their own niche market.
Last year, there was a hefty 51.8 per cent rise in arrivals from countries outside the top 40, from 276,807 to 420,230. This figure could easily be raised to a million within a few years if these countries are identified so that industry players could focus on this emerging market.
Motac can also work with the Land Public Transport Agency (APAD) to compile and post figures in its website the total number of tour buses and vans licensed under ‘Bas Persiaran’ and rental vehicles under ‘Hire & Drive’, including their distribution in destinations with international airport as in Langkawi, Penang, Kuala Lumpur, Johor Bahru, Kuching and Kota Kinabalu.
Such information indicates whether there is a shortage or oversupply of tourism vehicles, and surplus vehicles could be redistributed. Motac could also work with the local authorities to set up bus yards for tour buses to be parked safely overnight including washing facilities.
These bus yards would reduce indiscriminate parking and are also a haven for tired and sleepy drivers if provided with shower facilities and sleep pods, which offers the soundest sleep possible as they are sound-proof and can be totally dark.
One area Motac has done well is disclosing the total number of companies licensed under the Tour Operating Business and Travel Agency Business. Its website automatically generates the current figure, which is 6,647.
The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the New Sarawak Tribune.
