THE falling value of the ringgit is preventing Malaysians from travelling to countries with strong currencies.

They have instead opted to visit places where they could get fair value for the ringgit, according to tour operators.

Countries now high on the current popularity list are Vietnam, Indonesia and Taiwan, Malaysian Chinese Tourism Association (MCTA) national president Paul Paw told The Malaysian Insight.

Down the pecking order among our neighbours that used to be very popular are Singapore and Thailand, he said.

Even countries whose currency is weaker than Malaysia’s but use the US dollar in business and commerce when dealing with foreigners – Cambodia, Myanmar and Laos – are also way down the popularity list.

“Malaysians are shying away from these countries. The aim of the Malaysian traveller now is to go to a cheap but beautiful country”, Paw said.

The falling value of the ringgit has increased the cost of foreign travel by between 30% and 40%, he added.

Paw said the main considerations for Malaysians when planning their foreign vacations are cheap airline tickets, transportation, low cost entries for places of interest and most importantly, cheap, good food.

He said Thailand had become unattractive to some because the ringgit–baht exchange rate is in favour of the Thai currency.

“The value of the Thai baht is rising.”

To illustrate his point, Paw said Malaysians used to pay between RM7 and RM8 for a 100 baht bowl of noodles in Bangkok. Now, he said, it’s between RM12 and RM13.”

Paw said when national borders reopened after the Covid-19 pandemic, people were rushing to travel to break out of the boredom of confinement.

“Many chose to travel abroad.”

Paw said the cost of travel packages to Europe and America had also risen by 30% to 40%.

He said in such a situation, it is not surprising to find Malaysians becoming more budget conscious.

Silver lining

He, however, said the unfavourable exchange rate was not entirely responsible for the high cost of tour packages.

Paw said some countries, after the pandemic, also faced a shortage of manpower in its tourism industry just like Malaysia.

“Due to the shortage of workers, some major hotels could only use 200 rooms even if they had 500 rooms.

“To make up for the loss in revenue, they turned to hiking their room rates.”

He said the same goes for food prices in restaurants.

Paw, however, said there was a silver lining to the depreciating ringgit.

“It’s not all bad. There is some good news.”

The good, he said, was that Malaysia has become a cheap country to visit.

“It will attract more foreign tourists.”

Malaysia United Tour Guide Association president, Wong Lit Jer, agreed and said tourist arrivals have indeed increased.

That, he added, was good to all those associated with the tour industry.

He said souvenir stores and even small roadside vendors were doing brisk business.

Wong encouraged entrepreneurs to sell more local products which tourists like.

Wong also appealed to people in the food business “to pay more attention to hygiene” in their eateries.

“Many small restaurants that were recommended online are getting poor reviews by those who followed the recommendations.

“The common comments are that these places lack hygiene.” –  June 30, 2023.