GOVERNMENT and private agencies across the board must accept and implement the new National Tourism Policy 2020-2030 so that it does not end up being another paper exercise, said the Malaysian Association of Hotels (MAH).

MAH chief executive officer Yap Lip Seng said the Tourism, Arts and Culture Ministry must be given sufficient autonomy to ensure the objectives of the policy are achieved within the set timeframe.

“The tourism industry is a complicated sector that involves various stakeholders, both public and private, and very often overlapping jurisdiction with other government agencies with conflicting priorities,” Yap said.

“The National Tourism Policy must be upheld and prioritised for it to be relevant and effective. A clear example would be the need to drive international arrivals versus immigration controls.”

He said the government must realise that relaxing immigration requirements would boost tourist arrivals.

Yap acknowledged there were immigration concerns but said these should be viewed as matters of enforcement instead of reasons to impose bans.

“Over the course of engagement with the government on the development of the National Tourism Policy, stakeholders had also warned of the risk of ‘over-committee’, where historically the industry has seen excessive numbers of committees, sub-committees, working groups and councils set up to discuss matters with little or no solid action.”

The new policy should be the source of authority to act and to act immediately before Malaysia fell further behind neighbouring countries, he added.

Yap said stakeholders in the private sector wanted more control in leading the policy’s strategic thrusts.

This was because these stakeholders were functioning on the ground and had direct access to industry analytics and market trends, which should not be taken lightly, he said.

Yap said the tourism industry, which employed 3.6 million people and contributed significantly to economic growth, must be protected so that it did not collapse.

“The industry pleads again for more assistance as the situation has not improved. The industry is in need of higher wage subsidy, discounts for utilities as well as waiver of fees, licenses and permits,” he said.

Ninety hotels have ceased operations permanently or temporarily, affecting 7,000 worker since the start of the movement control order in March

A further 12,000 have been retrenched while some have had their wages reduced or put on  unpaid leave.

Many travel agencies and operators have also shut down.

Yap warned the industry was at risk of losing more tourism capacity that would be costly to rebuild.

Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin launched the 10-year policy was launched today.

It aims to ensure continuity of the country’s tourism industry as well as to reinstate Malaysia as the preferred tourism destination.

Muhyiddin said the policy would be implemented through six main strategic thrusts, including transformation of governance and creation of an inclusive tourism investment zone. – December 23, 2020.