JOHOR BARU: The Tourism ministry aims to generate more than
RM40.6bil worth of revenue from domestic tourism traffic this year
through efforts such as the 1Malaysia Travel Fair and travel mart, says
director-general Datuk Mirza Mohammad Taiyab.
He said that about
RM40bil was generated through domestic tourism in 2008 while, last
year, the sector only generated about RM24.8bil.
"Last year
there was a significant dip in domestic tourism revenue due to the
economic downturn and the people's wait-and-see approach.
"We
aim to bounce back this year through multiple programmes as well as
creating more tourism products," he told newsmen after launching the
Travel Mart programme here Friday.
Mirza said that the ministry
was confident the target revenue could be achieved through cooperation
from various parties, especially the tour guides and tour operators.
"Malaysians who wish to travel locally should acquire the services
of tour operators or agents.
"Such operators can get better
rates at hotels or resorts as well as provide proper tours," he said.
He added that boosting the domestic tourism could also deter locals
from going abroad for vacations.
"We are indirectly controlling
the outbound tourism and thus generating more income for the country,"
he said.
Mirza also urged tour agents to be more innovative in
attracting tourists online as there was a growing feeling that online
bookings provided by airlines as well as hotels could diminish their
roles.
"People are bookings their hotels or airline tickets
directly online without going through such agents.
"Thus, tour
agents must be more creative in attracting tourists to use their
services through ways such as offering interesting rates and coming up
with more tourism products," he said.
Mirza cited an example
where a tourist agent could organise a barbeque in a jungle near a
resort compared to the mundane method holding it near a hotel's
poolside.
On the travel mart, Mirza hoped that small and medium
enterprises (SMEs) could benefit from such efforts as it was in line
with ministry's goal of boosting the domestic tourism market.
"Part of the travel mart is producing the 'Cuti-Cuti 1Malaysia' tourist
package brochures as well as other domestic products.
"We want
the SMEs to take advantage of such wonderful opportunity by generating
their own products such as handicrafts and foodstuff," he said.
Source
No comments:
Post a Comment