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Malaysia Tourism Update 2005
Malaysia target for 2004 was to attract 14.3 million international tourist arrivals, but the total was actually up 52%, said SE Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, the country's Deputy Minister of Tourism at yesterday afternoon's press conference – to 15.6 million (Note, however, that the World Tourism Organization, WTO, disagrees with these figures.). The target for this year is a 6% increase to 16.6 million. And over 70% of arrivals come from neighbouring countries – Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand. Estimated spend by visitors was US$7.6 billion.
Hamidi said he wants to implement a Tourism Satellite Account to learn more about visitor patterns in the country. Tourism Malaysia, the national tourism organisation (NTO), has a large – US$263 million – marketing budget. No fewer than 27 markets have been designated in the ‘priority` status, another 27 as ‘secondary` markets, and about 17 as ‘emerging` markets. This means that the NTO will be giving some emphasis to 71 markets – a tough task.
Government has spent US$263 million on tourism development in an effort to make Langkawi a destination to rival Bali in Indonesia. Given the worldwide image of Bali, this will not be easy, either, and some believe that air connections will mean the potential is limited. However, Malaysia Airlines has started a loss leader to promote Langkawi with flights over London-Langkawi-Penang.
Substantial route expansion is planned by Malaysia Airlines. It has plans to increase flights to India from today`s eight cities to 15 within three years. A number of new routes will be to China – Chengdu-Kuala Lumpur and Kota Kinabalu-Xiamen have already been started, plus Kota Kinabalu–Shanghai and Kuala Lumpur-Kunming this year.
The airline is refurbishing some of its aircraft, with flat-bed seats for B747s and B777s. But there is now a confusing mix of classes, with just two classes – some called business and first class. The A380s Malaysia Airlines has on order will operate sixth-freedom routes linking KUL with Amsterdam, London, and Sydney. The aircraft, the airline promises, will be "the most luxurious in the world". That will be hard to achieve given the fact that competitors will be operating A380s – and these include Emirates, Singapore Airlines and Virgin Atlantic.
17/03/2005
