A Tourism Comparison Of Malaysia

Using various websites / internet sources, compare Malaysia’s performance with Thailand, Singapore and Indonesia. Malaysia made up of Peninsular Malaysia and two states of Sabah and Sarawak on the island of Borneo. Peninsular Malaysia is separated from Sabah and Sarawak by the South China Sea. In the northern part of Peninsular Malaysia lies Thailand and in the south, neighbouring Singapore. Sabah and Sarawak are bounded by Indonesia while Sarawak also shares borders with Brunei.

Malaysia Tourism Report provides industry professionals and strategists, corporate analysts, tourism associations, government departments and regulatory bodies with independent forecasts and competitive intelligence on Malaysia’s tourism industry. Tourism Sector Tourist shows the robust performance. Looking at the most recent data from Immigration Department, the country welcomed 15.38mn tourists over the January-August 2009 period, which means an increase of 4.4% year on year. August itself was a particularly strong month with tourist arrivals up by 10.4% at 2.03mn.

Although the major contributors to the economy profile in Malaysia are manufacturing and primary commodities, but travel and tourism has a highly important part of the Malaysian economy too. The tourism accommodation and air transportation sectors have growth. For example, AirAsia, the country’s premium low cost carrier, has expanded its operations and now offers many more routes within and outside the country and is regarded as a significant regional player. The hotel segment has been growing particularly rapidly, with the popularity of top-end boutique hotels continuing to increase.

This can testify by Malaysia has gain the tourism awards 2008/2009 at the PICC, Putrajaya on 9 Jan 2010 from hon. deputy prime minister of Malaysia, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Hj Mohd Yassin. Not only that, The premier awards and merit awards got innovation homestay, innovative tourist attraction, innovative tour programme, best foreign tour operator, best tourism guide and hotel services, innovative restaurant and tourism publication.

The Malaysian tourism will continues to grow rapidly because the government have hold many progress to promote tourism, For example one of Malaysia programme used to promote tourism is My Second Home, which is organised and launched by the Malaysian Government to allow foreigners who fulfil certain criteria to stay in Malaysia for as long as possible on a multiple-entry social visit pass. This could encourage them to stay in Malaysia. And the benefits are the social visit pass is initially for a period of ten years and is renewable.

The promotion of education tourism also continues to be expanded to the development of Malaysia as a preferred destination for international students. The project foreign exchange earnings are estimated at RM 900 Million by 2010.

Not only that, The Minister of Health, Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai, said that health tourism generated about US$85mn in revenue in 2008 and treated 370,000 foreign patients. Focus on Health Tourism in June 2009, state news agency Bernama reported that the Malaysia Tourism Promotion Board is embarking on a three year project seeks to increase the number of people visiting the country for medical treatment. Have a preferred medical tourism destination and politically stable, Malaysia has become a more profitable tourism industry.

As a visitor to Malaysia, they can have the opportunity to experience and appreciate its rich historic and cultural heritage, exotic culinary delights, shopping splendours, nature-based adventures and fun-filled activities. The enjoyable and hospitable nature of its people will make the foreigner come to Malaysia.

Thailand

Thailand, Singapore and Indonesia are important sources of visitors for Malaysia. By contraries, Malaysia, Japan, and Korea are the important destinations from where the large amounts of visitors come to Thailand. Apart from ASEAN countries, tourist arrivals from China and India will remain influential throughout the forecast period (2007-2011).

Thailand its shape and geography divide into four natural regions; the mountains and forests of the North; the vast rice fields of the Central Plains; the semi-arid farm lands of the Northeast plateau; and the tropical islands and long coastline of the peninsula south. Bangkok is the capital city and centre of political, commercial, industrial and cultural activities. It is also the seat of Thailand’s revered Royal Family.

Tourism is a major economic factor in Thailand, its contributing an estimated 6.7% to Thailand’s GDP in 2007. It is also expected that inbound tourist expenditure per head will increase by around 10.49% in 2011 as compared to 2006.

The Thai tourism industry is projected to end the year with a total of 13.8 million international visitor arrivals in 2006. Revenue earnings from tourism are now projected at 486 billion baht. The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) has targeted 14.8 million international visitor arrivals in 2007 with estimated target revenues of 547.5 billion baht.

Unfortunately, H1N1 incident make reflect on Thai tourism industry in 2009 decrease, further discouraged visitor arrivals. Tourist arrivals have fallen sharply in the first half of 2009. Figures released by the Office of Tourism Development (OTD) showed that tourist arrivals fell by 16.2% year on year to arrivals of only 6.6mn. This followed a decline of 2% as a whole, with Thailand being one of the first countries with affected by the global economic downturn.

But these tribulations no daunt to Thailand, the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) has worked hard to overcome difficulties and obstacles and bring forward the prosperity of Thailand’s tourism to meet international standards. Until now, Thailand has gained popularity from tourists all over the world for its quality and variety of tourist attractions. Thailand is also regarded as the premier shopping venue and ranked the topmost value-for-money tourist destination.

Besides attracting more quality international tourists to visit Thailand, the TAT has also promoting tourism by conduct many campaigns to attract tourist. For an example, Thailand has been promoting its healthcare tourism, where it is providing the visitors with private healthcare facilities. It is expected that the tourist arrival for the purpose of medical treatment will reach two Million by 2010. The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) is now preparing for the 8th Thailand Tourism Awards 2010, which aims to promote and sustain the Thai tourism industry with an international standard.

The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) will host the 8th Thailand Tourism Awards 2010, which aims to promote and sustain international standards in the Thai tourism industry. The Thailand Tourism Awards helps ensure Thailand’s popularity as well as increase credibility among both domestic and international tourists. Thailand Tourism Awards project was initiated by TAT since 1996. The awards are divided into five categories including Tourist Attractions, Tourist Accommodation, Tour Programmes, Tourism Development and Promotion Organisations and Medical Tourism.

Singapore

The Republic of Singapore is an independent nation in Southeast Asia. Located at the tip of the Malay Peninsula, separated only by the narrow Strait of Johor from the mainland, it is a prosperous nation whose people enjoy one of the highest standards of living in Asia.

Singapore may be small, but packs in quite a punch. It is Only about 655 square kilometers in area, it is one of the most densely populated cities in the world, with about 6430 people per square kilometer. Although it is one of the 20 smallest countries in the world, its economy is a world leader.

Singapore is a vibrant and colourful city where one can find a harmonious blend of culture, cuisine, art and architecture. And tourism in Singapore is a major industry and attracts millions of tourists each year. Singapore has always been his charming tropical scenery and hospitality and attracted visitors from all over the world tourists. Singapore is one of the most visiting tourist destinations in the world. It offers numerous travel attractions, natural as well as man-made marvels. Its cultural attraction can be attributed to its cultural diversity that reflects its colonial history and Chinese, Malay, Indian and Arab ethnicities. It is also environmentally friendly, and maintains natural and heritage conservation programs.

Tourism is one of the largest service sectors of Singapore. As of 2009, the tourism industry was estimated to reach S$6.4 billion and visitor arrivals to Singapore reached 4.5 million. This clearly shows the important role tourism industry plays in Singapore’s economy. And the country performance is Tourism receipts from visitors from Hong Kong (+11.3%) registered growth from January to June 2009. Visitor arrivals from Vietnam (+13.4%), the Philippines (+3.0%), Malaysia (+1.8%) and Germany (+1.3%) registered growth in the first half of 2009 versus the same period last year.

In additions, Singapore is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Asia-Pacific region and the tourism industry in Singapore is growing very rapidly for the past several years. This is because strengthening by the infrastructure developments, various events and the countries strategic location in the heart of region.

And the projected ranges for 2009 full-year tourism receipts and visitor arrivals of S$12.0 to S$12.5 billion and 9.0 to 9.5 million respectively remain unchanged, with travellers expected to stay cautious as uncertainties continue around Influenza A(H1N1-2009) and the general economic environment.

Indonesia

About the performance tourism in Indonesia, Tourism is an important component of the Indonesian economy as well as a significant source of foreign exchange revenues. With a vast archipelago of more than 17,000 islands, the second longest shoreline in the world, over 700 languages and tropical climate, nature and culture are both major components of Indonesian tourism.

The number of tourist arrivals in Indonesia in the first half of 2009 rose 2.61 percent to 2.97 million from the same period last year, a tourist official said. Indonesia tourist arrivals rose in 2009 but spending declined. More foreign tourists visited Indonesia last year than in 2008, but they spent less, resulting in a sharp decline in total tourism revenue, “In June 2009 alone, the number of tourist arrivals rose 4.06 percent from a year earlier,” Domestic Promotion Director at the Culture and Tourism Ministry Fathul Bahri said.

Data from the Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS) show the number of foreign tourist arrivals in Indonesia in June 2009 reached around 550,600, up 4.07 percent from June 2008, or 5.53 percent from May 2009. The number of foreign tourist arrivals through the country`s 11 main entry gates in June 2009 went up 4.95 percent to 466,900 from 444,900 in June 2008. “The figure is promising now that the number of tourist arrivals in neighboring Malaysia and Singapore recorded negative growth,” he said. In addition, he remained optimistic that the country would be able to achieve its tourist arrival target of 6.5 million for 2009.

However, tourism development had sometimes clashed with local people, they have created criticism over Indonesia’s tourism industry. Most of the disputes were related over land possession, local traditions and the impact of tourism development to the local people. In another area, tourism industry in Indonesia faces major threats. Since 2002, several warnings have been issued by some countries over terrorist threats and ethnic or religious conflicts in some areas, which significantly reduce the number of foreign visitors. Visit Indonesia is a good program but it lacks proper implementation which is said by Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa, an economist from state-owned PT Danareksa Sekuritas.

After comparison with Thailand, Singapore and Indonesia, the conclusion can made is Malaysia has better performance that the three country. Like compare to Indonesia, it miss their target that set before and still lags far behind its smaller neighbours in terms of tourist numbers. Malaysia is welcomed 15.38 million foreign tourists during the first eight months of 2009 alone, while Singapore saw 4.51 million tourist arrivals in the first half the year.

However, these three country also have their own strategic or technique to retrieval the tourism or to promote their tourism more. Planning is importing, lacking a more effective long-term strategy, the country’s tourism would likely only grow in line with the global economy.