THE Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture will launch two new policies this year: the National Tourism Policy (DPN2030) and the National Cultural Policy (DKN).

Minister Mohammadin Ketapi said the two policies, in line with the goals of the Shared Prosperity Vision 2030, were in the finalisation process.

“If everything goes as planned, DPN2030 will be launched soon, while the DKN will be launched in the first quarter of this year,” he said at the ministry monthly assembly in Putrajaya today.

DPN2030 focuses on increasing national income, promoting co-operation and investment, empowering local communities and strengthening the resilience of the tourism industry.

The policy will be implemented through six key areas: transforming tourism governance; creating tourism investment zone; digitalisation in tourism; enhancing tourist experience and satisfaction; strengthening commitment to sustainable tourism; and enhancing the capacity of human capital, he said.

Meanwhile, DKN is a long-term concept of shared prosperity covering the various ethnic groups in Malaysia.

He said DKN will promote national identity through seven key areas: high value culture; harmonious society; sustainable cultural heritage preservation; cultural excellence; cultural development and expansion; cultural empowerment; and economic development.

“This year is particularly important for the ministry as Visit Malaysia 2020 targets 30 million foreign tourists spending RM100 billion.

“Understanding and co-operation with tourism industry players is crucial to the development of the industry, based on the National Eco-Tourism Plan 2016-2025,” he said.

Malaysia is also set to host the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation 2020 summit, Kuala Lumpur World Book Capital 2020 and 100 other events to be held nationwide, he said.

Mohammadin said, under the Minister’s Performance Indicator, the ministry had successfully implemented almost all core activities in the tourism and cultural empowerment sector with encouraging percentage comparable to other ministries.

“For the period of January to September last year, we recorded a 3.7% increase in tourist arrivals: 20.11 million compared to 19.39 million for the same period in 2018.

“We also managed to increase foreign tourist spending for the same period last year by 6.66% to RM66.14 billion compared with RM61.85 billion for the same period in 2018,” he said.

Mohammadin said among ministry’s achievements in 2019 was the recognition of silat as a martial art under the Unesco Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity category. – Bernama, January 6, 2020.