MALAYSIA FOCUSING ON LEVERAGING DOMESTIC PRODUCTS TO HELP LOCAL TOURISM SECTOR- NANCY

KUALA LUMPUR, July 28 -- Malaysia is focusing on leveraging domestic products and brands to help speed up the recovery of the local entrepreneurs and business communities income as the COVID-19 pandemic has been a temporary setback for inbound trousim.

Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Nancy Shukri said the move would help offset the downturn in the economy due to the absence of foreign contributions at the moment.

According to Nancy, the effort was is in line with the implementation of the Tourism and Culture Recovery Plan by the ministry which emphasises domestic tourism, to ensure businesses and firms return to their pre-crisis production and reinstate employment levels as rapidly and safely as possible.

“The National Tourism Policy 2020–2030 has set three pillars, namely Competitiveness, Inclusiveness, and Sustainability as its strategic direction to transform Malaysia’s tourism industry.

“This will be done by harnessing public-private sector partnerships and embracing digitalisation to drive innovation and competitiveness towards sustainable and inclusive development in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs),” she said during the virtual launch of the Malaysia Retail Chain Association (MRCA) Food and Beverage Division today.

Explaining further, Nancy said that to support the strategic direction, six transformation strategies have been outlined and one of them is embarking on a comprehensive digitalisation journey towards Smart Tourism in the face of opportunities and challenges ushered in by the fourth industrial revolution (IR 4.0).

“It is my hope to see MRCA to include digital up-skilling and re-skilling training programmes and courses as it is time to respond to the emerging and persisting new trends, towards a safe and seamless travelling journey experience. 

“This is one of the many ways to embrace responsible tourism in the new norm by integrating health, security, hygiene, and sustainability into a traveller-centric approach, where digital touchless operations are the ‘in’ (current) thing right now,” she said.

Meanwhile, Nancy said the opening of MRCA Food and Beverage Division is timely and is very much in line with one of the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture (MOTAC) transformation strategies, that is to enhance demand sophistication by increasing the tourist experiences that are unique, differentiated and memorable.

Therefore, she said it is important to increase the value of services and goods provided to tourists as nowadays, tourist demand is becoming more specialised, customised and corresponds with the willingness to pay for a distinctive experience.

“Thus, it is vital for us to develop attractive products, for example we can integrate our destination attractions together with our culture, culinary, arts and heritage value. This is essential in enticing tourists to stay longer and spend more at multiple destinations,” she said.

-- BERNAMA