LETTER | Effective measures needed to spur tourism growth

LETTER | On Sept 16, Negeri Sembilan Tourism, Arts and Culture Committee chairperson Nicole Tan told reporters that travel agencies in the state should come up with interesting packages to attract more local and international tourists to Negeri Sembilan.

She said these packages should include ecotourism, agriculture, sports, events, and food, as well as places of interest, to further strengthen the state’s tourism sector.

She explained, “So far we have only been doing product promotion and providing information, but we don’t have a tour package, so people just stop by for a while and then go to Malacca, Perak, and so on to travel.”

“We should have travel packages based on the target group. For example, tourists from China are interested in visiting historical places such as museums, and ‘mat sallehs’ (Europeans) like to climb mountains. So, we must have packages that suit their interest.”

“We will focus on and prioritise the nine products from the respective districts in the tourism packages for the state”.

In other words, Tan wants all nine districts in the state to come up with their respective tourism products.

Given lip service

Similar calls have been echoed by various authorities over the past decades but to no avail. They were given lip service, or such endeavours turned out to be fruitless.

Little will change if stakeholders do not comprehend basic tourism terms such as visitors, excursionists, and tourists.

Even ecotourism has been bandied about and the term interchanged freely with numerous nature-based activities.

Eco means nature-friendly, but if visitors were to damage or cause harm to the environment, then it would be misleading to label such activities as ecotourism.

Industry players must also know the main purposes for travelling to a particular destination by foreign and domestic visitors, and their main expenditures.

To attract foreign tourists, Negeri Sembilan would have to compete with many other Malaysian states and countries in the region.

Most people clueless

Historical places and artefacts in Negeri Sembilan did not attract many visitors. Similarly, few would be interested in the state’s Gunung Besar Hantu (1,462m). Most prefer Gunung Kinabalu (4,095m) over Gunung Tahan (2,187m). Although the former is taller, it is much easier to climb.

In 1990, the oldest and most complete skeleton in Southeast Asia dubbed the Perak Man was uncovered at Gua Gunung Runtuh near Lenggong, 80km north of Ipoh. But few would travel all the way there just to have a look, as most people are clueless even with their own ancestors.

Bujang Valley is the richest archaeological site in Malaysia. It is in Kedah and covers a massive area of 224 sq km. Although it contains the ruins of the oldest man-made structures in Southeast Asia, it has attracted few domestic visitors and even fewer foreign travellers.

Further up north in between the Bujang Valley and Alor Setar is Bukit Choras. A large 1,200-year-old temple structure, together with two well-preserved life-sized Buddha statues, were unearthed just weeks ago by a team of archaeologists from local universities.

South of Bujang Valley and on the way to Butterworth is the Guar Kepah Archaeological Gallery. Here, it would soon house the remains of 41 prehistoric people that were found in Guar Kepah located in Penang, which was the first archaeological site recorded in Malaysia.

They were discovered by British archaeologists near the Kedah border between 1851 and 1934 and were later kept in the National Museum of Natural History in Leiden, Holland but will be brought home soon. In 2017, the 42nd skeletal remains of a woman were found in Guar Kepah.

Most visitors use public transport

The ‘Penang Woman’ is now being kept in Universiti Sains Malaysia’s Global Archaeology Research Centre and may or may not be transferred to the Guar Kepah Archaeological Gallery to join 41 others. Whether this gallery will attract many visitors or not, only time will tell.

While federal and state governments ought to promote tourism destinations, facilities, attractions, activities, sights, shopping, food, culture, events, and other products, only tour operators are licensed to arrange and offer a combination of these services in a tour package.

If there is a demand for tour packages by domestic visitors, tour operators would be offering them without having been told to do so.

But tour packages are expensive if they include the cost of a tour car or Bas Pesiaran van for transport plus the compulsory use of a tourist guide.

It would cost several hundred ringgit a day just to charter a tour car or van and another several hundred ringgit to hire a tourist guide, which is required by law until it is amended.

Hence, the overwhelming majority of domestic visitors travel in their own vehicles or use public transport.

A massive business

Calling on tour operators to offer interesting packages to attract more local and international tourists to the state is like water off a duck's back. Concrete measures are needed to upgrade tourism in Negeri Sembilan and they involve collaborations between public and private sectors.

But first, stakeholders must understand that tourism is a massive business, and the three biggest revenues are derived from shopping, food and beverage, and automotive fuel.

Combined, they constituted 74.7 percent of all domestic tourism expenditures in 2019 and 73.4 percent in 2022.

Most do not realise that domestic visitors include not only those travelling from other states (interstate) but also those within the state (intrastate). Contrary to popular belief, there are only seven districts in Negeri Sembilan, as they no longer comprise the original nine chiefdoms.

The districts are Jelebu, Seremban, Kuala Pilah, Jempol, Port Dickson, Rembau and Tampin.

Residents travelling or driving out of their districts for shopping or dining are regarded as domestic visitors, and their expenses are deemed tourism expenditures.

Tourism starts with intrastate travel. If a town is unable to attract visitors from nearby districts, it will not be able to draw visitors from other states. When locals prefer to travel to states like Penang and Malacca, they are also popular with foreign tourists, and conversely, if they are not.

Step-by-step process

Therefore, promoting tourism effectively is a step-by-step process and in sequence. It requires a razor-sharp focus and at times may have little room for being politically correct, especially when public and private sectors must collaborate to ensure the success of tourism projects.

The best example is constructing and managing purpose-built tourism centres in each of the seven districts, as they would only be effective in drawing hordes of visitors by being inclusive and transparent in selecting operators to offer the best foods in town and sell only local produce.

The most popular food operators in every district should be invited to operate from these new centres and be given the first right of refusal. For example, Asia Catering & Confectionery or Siew Pow Master should be invited to operate a lot at the proposed Seremban Tourism Centre.

Without such tourism centres, many motorists could drive past a town or district, not knowing whether there are worthwhile stops for food and shopping. It would be a hassle to search for them and time-consuming to travel from one location to another.

On the other hand, one-stop tourism centres offer not only the best foods in the district but also allow visitors to shop for local produce that includes fruits, vegetables, fish, confectioneries, snacks, coffee, handicrafts, cottage industry products and factory-manufactured goods.

Items produced within the district should be given top priority, followed by those within the state, with some exemptions given to those from neighbouring states.

Counterfeit and imported goods are to be prohibited, as tourism centres should not be turned into ordinary bazaars.

In this way, all tourism centres are unique, each offering the best the district has to offer, and would draw visitors not only from other districts but also from many states. Their popularity would also attract foreign excursionists on day trips and tourists who come to stay overnight.

But this will not happen if they are built and operated like the many food centres constructed by various city halls and municipal councils meant for petty traders.

Tourism centres must be more appealing, showcasing the best a district can offer, and serving the widest range of visitors.

YS CHAN is a master trainer for Mesra Malaysia and Travel & Tours Enhancement Course as well as an Asean Tourism Master Trainer. He is also a transport and training consultant and writer.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.