KUALA LUMPUR: All tour operators have to be relevant and be ready for changes with their packages or risk being discarded, said Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ng Yen Yen. “We need to compete with other countries who are emerging with their booming tourism industry. The Government and the ministry constantly review our policies and regulations to adapt to the changes,” she said in her speech at the 36th Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents (MATTA) annual dinner here last night. Tour operators, she added, must be reliable, credible and accountable.
“However, the number of complaints received on tour operators gives us great anxiety,” said Dr Ng. Earlier, Dr Ng said Malaysia was seeking to become one of the most reputable destinations for art enthusiasts with its own unique local contemporary artworks. She said there was a lot of potential as the local contemporary arts industry had been recognised as one of the three “bankable” sectors. “At the beginning of the decade, contemporary art had only 2.83% share of the market’s revenue. It now represents 10.2% of global art auction revenue,” she said in her speech at the 1Malaysia Contemporary Art Tourism Festival here yesterday.
Dr Ng said that despite the economic downturn in the recent years, art auction global revenue last year was US$9.36bil (RM28.15bil). She said the first 1Malaysia contemporary art tourism festival last year recorded 42,000 visitors and generated RM14mil in art sales. Her text of speech was read out by the Tourism Ministry secretary-general Datuk Dr Ong Peng Heng.
-thestar online.
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