Malaysia lacks software to meet 10-year tourism goal

MALAYSIA needs to tackle manpower issues and relook sales tactics to meet its goal of attracting more high-yield tourists, said the local travel trade. The country this week unveiled a 10-year plan to move out of the middle-income tourist trap and double tourism receipts by 2020 (TTG Asia e-Daily, September 22). James Wan, Planet Borneo Tours' executive director, said the country needed to increase the number of its foreign-speaking guides and frontliners before pursuing more tourists from its medium-haul target markets - South Korea, Japan and China.

"We must be prepared with enough manpower to handle higher volumes of foreign-speaking tourists before we go into aggressive destination marketing."World Avenues' executive director Ally Bhoonee said a new body should be created to re-train current service industry players and train new entrants. "The way of selling Malaysia must change, in line with the needs and expectations of high-yield tourists.

"Red Apple Travel & Tours' managing director Arokia Das Anthony urged the tourism ministry to brief the private sector on initiatives it would undertake to meet this ambitious target. "Everyone has to be on the same page and there must be strong political will to bring about change."
-TTG Asia.