Tuesday, February 14, 2012

DISCONTINUED FLIGHTS SHOULD NOT AFFECT TOURISM ARRIVALS

The move by Malaysia Airlines (MAS) and AirAsia X to reduce or discontinue flights to international and regional destinations will cost the country’s tourism industry billions of ringgit in revenue, said Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ng Yen Yen.

This is not true. On the contrary tourism arrivals into a country is also dependent on how much money spent on promotion and advertising. We know for a fact the spending on A & P by the Ministry of Tourism has been the highest so far. We would like to see the results of this spending.

Acknowledging that the airlines had done so as part of their business plan, the Minister said the move would nevertheless lead to a drop in tourist arrivals.

“When there is no accessibility to the country, it will be very difficult to get tourists (to visit Malaysia),” she said after launching the Malaysia Tourism Satellite Account (TSA) here yesterday. The TSA is a set of accounts in the industry to track the contribution of each tourism activity. Malaysia is one of 36 countries that keep the TSA, which helps the Government and industry players develop the industry as it gives indications on the types of products that will attract tourists.

She is obviously ignorant of the fact that not only MAS and Airasia carry international passengers to Malaysia. There are many international airlines who are willing to fly in direct to Malaysia if proper incentives are given to them.

This is so basic in tourism promotion.You cannot depend on national carriers alone to bring in the numbers.

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