Speech by Minister of Tourism and Culture Malaysia at The Mid-Lab Syndication of Tourism & Culture Lab 2.0
SPEECH BYMINISTER OF TOURISM AND CULTURE MALAYSIA
YB DATO' SERI MOHAMED NAZRI TAN SRI ABDUL AZIZ
AT THE
MID-LAB SYNDICATION OF TOURISM & CULTURE LAB 2.0
26 JANUARY 2016 (TUESDAY)
AUDITORIUM MATIC, JALAN AMPANG, KUALA LUMPUR, 12.40 PM
Salutations.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Assalamualaikum warahmatullahiwabarakatuh,
1. Good afternoon and Salam 1Malaysia to our distinguished guests from the relevant Ministries and Government Agencies, representatives from the private sector and NGOs as well as all the dedicated and hardworking lab members.
2. Allow me to begin by expressing my heartfelt gratitude to all lab members for your active participation in the Tourism & Culture Lab 2.0. I am delighted to learn that we are leveraging on the Private-Public Partnership to realize our national agenda of transforming Malaysia into a developed nation by the year 2020.
3. Over the past 3 weeks, more than 400 key resource persons from the Government, Private Sector and NGOs have attended and contributed their expertise, ideas and valuable time to the Lab. In this regard, I wish to express my very special thanks to all of you who have been participating and contributing towards the progress of this Lab initiative. It is heartening to note that more than 50% of lab members are from the private sector and NGOs. Your unwavering support has certainly made a significant difference. Based on my observations during the gallery walk, I am very impressed with the outcomes achieved so far.
Ladies and gentlemen,
6. I am happy to hear that the major shopping malls recognize MOTAC's Malaysia Tourism Quality Assurance or MyTQA program and intend to expand this to improve the standards and quality of our offerings.
7. The concept of Ecotourism clusters is also promising as it will benefit a much larger area and local population and welcome the proposal to implement the pilot project in Perak.
8. Culture, Heritage and Arts are niche areas with tremendous growth potential that can be further harnessed. The idea of promoting marquee events is worth exploring, as it will provide a platform to showcase our local arts and crafts for wealth creation.
9. It is interesting to note that the Events and Entertainment segment is also pursuing iconic events to make Malaysia a more vibrant and exciting destination. These ideas should be developed further.
10. I am also encouraged that the industry has come together to jointly develop high-impact initiatives for cruise, spa, birding, diving and golf. These are high-yield sectors and we need the collaboration and support of the private sector to maximize the potential of these niche tourism products.
11. The Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibitions or MICE industry is another sector that I strongly believe needs to be given priority as it attracts a relatively much higher per capita expenditure.
Ladies and gentlemen,
12. I am also glad to hear that the connectivity discussions have projected more than 100 new routes over the next 5 years, including the opening up of 2nd tier cities. I hope this will materialize so that we can fill the gaps in connectivity caused by the air route rationalizations over the past 2 years. The additional routes would be a boost to Malaysia's inbound tourism.
13. On the other hand, visa continues to be a challenging issue for the tourism industry. I am confident that the implementation of e-Visa system will facilitate travel for the convenience of our tourists, which in turn, will attract more tourists to Malaysia.
14. I am indeed pleased to learn that the hotel associations are committed to consider self-funded awareness initiatives to improve the perception of the hospitality sector. In addition, the creative proposals from Homestay are crucial to revitalize the rural economy.
15. In order for the development and rollout of new tourism products to be successful, I strongly believe that we need to intensify our efforts in marketing and promotion. In this regard, I call upon EPU and MOF to give due priority and consideration to enhance marketing and promotion initiatives to increase demand for travel to Malaysia. Cost-effective approaches such as digital marketing can also be adopted by our industry players to complement the efforts by the Government.
Ladies and gentlemen,
16. These are my initial comments as part of the mid-Lab syndication. Finally, I would like to record my appreciation again to all lab members and PEMANDU for your contribution in ensuring the success of this lab. It is my ardent hope that you will continue your energetic engagement, for the rest of the lab session. I look forward to the proposals that will be submitted during the final Lab syndication to advance tourism and culture as an engine of growth of the economy.
18. With that, I will end this speech with this 'pantun':
Malaysia Indah diberi nama,
Pelancong datang serata dunia,
Semua bidang perlu diteroka,
Agar Malaysia maju dan ternama.
19. Thank you!
Waasalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.
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