Tougher animal protection laws to draw more tourists.

Malaysia must enact tougher protection laws to convince the world community that its zoos, forests and national parks are indeed fully friendly to mother nature and truly sustainable.

"Malaysia needs to learn from countries like Australia that have very tough laws passed by Parliament to strictly govern and scrutinise what is happening in zoos, wildlife and national parks everyday, so that our nature-tourism can progress in a big way," said Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ng Yen Yen.

On Friday, the Minister had meetings with the management of the world-renowned Adelaide Zoo that attracts up to 750,000 foreign tourists annually, and the Adelaide Botanical Gardens, that attract 1.4 million visitors each year.

She said her ministry has come up with a policy of "Green Malaysia, Clean Malaysia" for its future direction in tourism promotion.

"Zoos, botanical gardens and national parks should be managed together in an intergrated manner, like here in Australia. Look at the zoos, gardens and parks in Australia. They are so well managed, and the animals, trees, plants and flowers are so well taken care of that they reflect the highest standard of environmental management. This is why they can attract so many tourists every year. We in Malaysia need to learn and adopt similar laws," she said.

Datuk Seri Dr Ng said a huge percentage of international tourists were very sensitive about the environment and animals. "That is why the delicate issues of illegal logging and alleged abuse of orang utan habitats in Malaysia have become hot international topics, and have adversely affected Malaysia's image," she noted.

She wanted to work closely with her counterparts in the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry to coordinate measures to better conserve, preserve and protect the ecosystem and its priceless assets. "We do have our laws, but there are loopholes and weaknesses we need to overcome," she said.