langkawi magazine
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Wooing Back Tourists
"FRANCZIZSKA", "Conradha", and "Scottyswe" are considering going for a holiday to Malaysia, but they share a common problem: none are certain how badly this country was hit by the Dec 26 tsunami.
All three names are online pseudonyms for some of the visitors to the Internet portal VirtualTourist.com. The website features bulletin boards where tourists post questions about specific holiday locations and get replies from others who have been there.
"Franczizska" was planning to have her wedding in Langkawi, but wonders whether she should go elsewhere because she heard that the island was badly hit. "Conradha" wants to know if the undersea quake preceding the tsunami is causing pollution in the waters off our beaches, and "Scottyswe's" question is: to go or not to go? They may be a minute sampling, but officials from Government and the tourism industry agree that doubts and uncertainties about coming to Malaysia after the tsunami are common. The physical damage to the country's tourism infrastructure has been minimal, but the biggest challenge now is to correct a negative perception among tourists about Malaysia. It could turn out to be the major problem holding back the recovery of the tourism industry.
"The main impact of the tsunami on Malaysia's tourism industry was an immediate knee-jerk reaction that led to cancellation of bookings," says Tourism Minister Datuk Dr Leo Michael Toyad.
"The rate (of cancellations) is now decreasing, but some people still do not feel comfortable going on a holiday to the region." Dr Toyad disclosed the results of an official evaluation, which has totalled the losses from room cancellations at RM8 million. Property damage to tourism infrastructure, meanwhile, stands at RM24.1 million.
The amount is small in relation to the size of the industry. Tourists to Malaysia put RM74.8 billion into the economy between 2001 and 2003, but cancellations and continuing doubts by tourists are sources of concern.
Malaysia recorded its highest ever tourist arrivals last year at 15.703 million, and any lengthy disruption in arrivals could jeopardise the industry.
An official with Langkawi's Tourism Action Council says that there were about 1,000 room-night cancellations in the period between Jan 1 and to Jan 15. Langkawi has 81 hotels with a total of 7,423 rooms, so the cancellations are not severe. But Langkawi is a world-renowned resort island, and as the manager of the Pondok Keladi chalet put it: "The island has always been running at full capacity during the Christmas period, but after the tsunami, some establishments saw occupancy rates plunging to 20 per cent and so many are unsure how long this situation will last." Officials say that it will take between three and six months for the industry to normalise, but none can give a definite answer.
"How long we take to recover will depend on how quickly and effectively we respond to mitigate any potential damage to the industry," says associate professor Dr Azilah Kasim from Universiti Utara Malaysia's Tourism, Hospitality and Environment Management Faculty.
She says the first step that needs to be done is to rehabilitate the affected areas; the second involves an intensive information campaign targeting foreign tourists and tour agencies.
"We must strive to portray the fact that our tourist spots were not badly damaged, that we are still safe, and that it is business as usual," says Azilah.
Some in the industry prefer not to talk about the problem. "All that the media reports about the tsunami will do is scare away the tourists," says an official from a tourism-related private sector association. Those who prefer to keep a lid on the situation will likely argue that since Malaysia was able to quickly mitigate the effects from the outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), which caused much more damage to the tourism industry, then there should not be too much of a problem this time around.
But ignoring the problem will not make it go away. "SARS affected people, but it left the tourism infrastructure intact," says Azilah. "The tsunami, on the other hand, caused physical damage to some areas near tourist spots, so there's more work to be done this time around." ," she adds.
Some within the industry are more open about the problems they are facing and are doing what they can to assure incoming guests that Malaysia is still a fine place to visit, but the task is an uphill one. "Although Penang and Langkawi were not seriously affected, we somehow got lumped together with the badly-hit tourist beaches in other countries, so many people out there still don't realise that we suffered minimal damage," says Suleiman Tunku Abdul Rahman, communications director at Shangri-La's Golden Sands Resort in Penang. He has been issuing a steady stream of statements and replies to enquiries from abroad about the situation in Malaysia.
An obvious strategy to address the problem would be to mount an intensive publicity campaign to sell Malaysia to the still- wary tourists. But as a ministry official cautions, "an all-out publicity blitz in European countries which suffered massive tourist casualties would not be suitable right now".
"With Asia's tourism industries being so closely linked, it would also be inappropriate to mount a campaign telling people to come to Malaysia because we are not as badly hit as our neighbours," he adds.
He explains that the marketing strategy since Dec 26 has instead been concentrated on pulling in tourists from China and other Orient Far Eastern countries who traditionally visit Malaysia during the Chinese New Year period.
This is in addition to a continuing programme to fly in selected foreign media and tourism representatives to Langkawi and Penang to allow them to make a first-hand assessment of the situation.
Another measure being taken to help the industry recover and strengthen is diversification. "The strategy this year will be to create more tourism products based on our islands, the seas, golf-products and shopping destinations," says Dr Toyad.
The effort to correct the misperception appears to be paying off. Abacus International, Asia's largest air ticketing and reservations company, noted a drop in bookings to for Langkawi and Penang in the week immediately after the tsunami from Dec 27 to Jan 3, but said that things are now picking up.
"In Malaysia, and other affected markets in the region, we are starting to see a recovery," says Don Birch, president and chief executive officer of the Singapore-based company, which accounts for one of every two travel bookings made in the Asia-Pacific region.
The recovery of Malaysia's tourism sector will would also depend on forging closer regional co-operation. Events in recent years has shown that terrorism threats, viral outbreak like SARS and bird flu as well as natural disasters in one country can impact others in the region.
"The fact is that at any given moment, a country somewhere in the region is facing a tourism crisis," says Birch.
"The need for strong, centrally coordinated leadership and willingness among the industry to work together and pitch in when times are tough has never been more critical," he adds.
For Malaysia, which will be hosting the Asean Tourism Forum in Langkawi that kicks off next week until Jan 29, the focus will be to develop a joint regional strategy to deal with the tsunami's impact on the tourism sector.
"We will put in on the agenda, because what we are ultimately aiming to do is to create and market the region as one destination," says Dr Toyad.
The success of the local and regional efforts to aid the recovery of the tourism sector will ultimately depend on whether tourists like the wary "Francziska", "Conradha", and "Scottyswe" are persuaded to travel to Malaysia.
One optimistic indication is the fact that they would, upon checking into their hotel rooms, receive a copy of a personal letter of gratitude that bears Dr Toyad's signature. Soon after the tragedy, the minister initiated a move to issue personal thank you letters, copies of which have been distributed to all the hotels in Malaysia for distribution to all room guests.
"It is a gesture to thank each tourist for coming here during this period and not cancelling their holidays because of the tragedy," he says.
It may a token gesture, but one which underscores the larger effort now being undertaken to win the hearts and minds of tourists considering a visit to Malaysia.
Malaysia 18/01/2005
