Fund to woo tourists

SINGAPORE: The Tourism Ministry hopes to get more funds for advertising and promotional activities in the upcoming Budget, saying its allocation has remained the same for the past 10 years despite increases in tourist arrival.

Its minister Datuk Seri Dr Ng Yen Yen said from 2000 to 2010, the budget of RM200mil has remained while tourist arrivals had grown from 10 million to 24 million. “I understand that the Government has its priorities, especially with regards to education and healthcare for the people.

Ready to roll: Dr Ng launching the bus advertising campaign in Singapore yesterday. Looking on are Malaysian High Commissioner to Singapore Datuk Md Hussin Nayan (second from left) and other Tourism Malaysia officials.

“But with an increased budget, I will be able to intensify our promotional efforts in China, India, Middle East and also Russia,” she said at the launch of the bus advertising campaign involving 55 buses here yesterday. Dr Ng said the RM200mil allocation was used to upkeep the 44 Tourism offices worldwide.

“I will only ask for what is realistic and we need to do more advertising and promotion to tell the world about Malaysia as a lot of people still do not know about the country,” she said, stressing that tourism in Singapore was doing well. Dr Ng said with more connectivity of flights, especially through budget airlines, more tourists would come to the country.

Asked whether the present slowdown in the global economy would have an impact on tourism, she said there would be a drop of tourists from Europe, United Kingdom and America. “Fortunately, we are making up the numbers with arrivals from China, India and Middle East,” she said.

On the bus advertising campaign in Singapore, the ministry will be spending RM1.1mil on the buses plying Orchard Road, the Central Business District and residential areas around the island. Concerning the issue of Singaporeans being caught in traffic jams at the checkpoints due to the implementation of the biometric system, Dr Ng urged those with such problems to apply for the Malaysian Automated Clearance System (MACS) cards.

“I hope Singaporeans will apply for this card which will expedite immigration clearance,” she said, acknowledging that immigration clearance was important to promote tourism. The MACS costing RM30 is available to Singaporeans and those with Singaporean Permanent Resident status (PR) or even foreigners doing business in Johor.

Dr Ng, who apologised for the inconvenience faced by Singaporeans when the biometric system was implemented in June, said during that period, the number of visitors had dipped. “Maybe we need to make it easier for them to apply for the card,” she said.

-thestar online.