COMMENT While holidaying in Hanoi, I realise that even Tourism Malaysia and tour agencies may have to redefine tourism in Malaysia.

If we do not tailor our tourism packages as a country to meet the expectations of the tourists, we may soon lose out to a number of emerging markets in this part of the world. They would rather visit Vietnam or Thailand, instead of Malaysia.

Government agencies such as Tourism Malaysia should conduct surveys to find out what exactly it is that foreigners are looking forward to when they visit Malaysia.

Need for more smart strategies

In the past, we have emphasised on shopping as one of the tourist attractions in Malaysia, but my question is, was the Mega Sales Carnival a big success in drawing tourists to the country?

Or would other factors such as scouting for a good private higher education in Malaysia be a greater draw for families to visit Malaysia? If it is, why are we not promoting the education fairs to countries in the region?

Why is Tourism Malaysia or even Tourism Selangor not putting their money into promoting these education fairs through the network of university representatives in these countries? For example, by inviting the media from these countries to visit the major education fairs in the country?

Back in 2000, I wrote a proposal for both the Education Ministry and Tourism Ministry. It caught the attention of the then-tourism minister, Kadir Sheikh Fadzir, and Tourism Malaysia director-general Abdullah Junid, that they called me in for a discussion, but it was the Education Ministry under Musa Mohamad that was dragging its feet over the initiative that I proposed. The idea just died a premature death.

My contention was that if families were flocking to Malaysia to check out on the colleges and universities, throwing in the Mega Sales Carnival coupled with some theme parks would therefore add to the excitement. We may see an entire family travelling together with the young person who is planning to study in Malaysia, while the mothers can enjoy a shopping spree.

Tourism Malaysia should produce advertorials that suggest holiday ideas to these target groups in different countries rather than buying advertisements worth millions of dollars showcasing only the Iban dance or the Mega Shopping Carnival.

In my opinion, a carnival sales alone would not be sufficient to draw people to the country. After all, tell me how many of our international brands are not already available in Indonesia or in Vietnam?

Culture and history?

I have also seen that we have emphasised a lot on showcasing the cultural highlights of different ethnic groups in the country. Tour packages have always included performances by different ethnic groups, and with that, we hope to showcase to the world that we are a multi-ethnic country.

But truly, how many of the foreign tourists are impressed with our multi-ethnicity? Australia for example has over 200 nationalities in one country. Vietnam alone has 54 ethnic groups, mostly of whom are minority groups.

Do tourists want to travel several thousand kilometres just to watch how an Iban does his traditional dances? I doubt so. In New Zealand, for example, the Maoris too have their own traditional dances, so why bother to come to Malaysia to see an Iban dancing?

And, not every foreign tourist is interested to learn about the history of our country, especially if they can read about it in books. While there is a market segment for such tourist attractions, we should not assume that every foreigner visiting Malaysia would be keen to visit Malacca and appreciate its history.

On Day 1 of my trip to Hanoi, we were taken to visit the mausoleum of Ho Chin Minh. Part of the day was wasted when we were brought to the official residences of the late president.

To most of of us, a table was just a table, so what difference does it make that Ho had used the table in his presidential office? We also spent about an hour to visit a former concentration camp.

In Beijing, on a separate trip two years ago, we were also taken to similar places - Tiananmen Square, supposedly in honour of a dead communist leader. This was really not what we wanted to see, but it occupied one full day of the entire tour package.

Know what is the main highlight

The highlight of our three-day-two-nights’ tour to Vietnam has to be a night’s stay at the beautiful Hua Long Bay, while in Beijing, it was mainly to visit the Great Wall of China. At least, someone who has been to the Great Wall can say that they have experienced what it was to climb one of the world’s Seven Wonders. That was worth the trip to Beijing.

In retrospect, what is the highlight in a foreigner’s visit to Malaysia? Do we really know what tourists from different market segments are looking for? Without understanding their expectations, we will only be wasting away the country’s resources on promoting the wrong ‘tourist attractions.’ It is like my experience in Hanoi on Day 1, because it was a sheer waste of our time.

Visual, gastronomical, experiential and educational

Tourists are willing to travel thousand kilometres and spend their money only when their trip can fulfil their expectations. For example, one of my dream holidays is to visit the Swiss Alps.

If only I can afford to bring my whole family there some day, I would feel I have fulfilled a dream. The sight of the snow on the Alps, and being able to show it to my children and wife, would be enough to make me feel the trip is worth the while.

What more to experience the beauty and the ambience that I have heard so much about from my uncle and his family who had visited the Swiss Alps and shared with us some 15 years ago.

If we want to draw tourists to Malaysia, do we know what is this ‘Swiss Alps’ in Malaysia that can meet their expectations? Can we provide them the standard day-packages so that they can plan their own trips and achieve what they hope to get by travelling this far to Malaysia?

There needs to be flexibility in what they put together for their holiday, but comprehensive information should be available on Tourism Malaysia’s website to allow the tourists to plan their holiday in Malaysia.

This is why I believe the ‘Hop-On, Hop-Off’ double-decker buses are always a great tourism idea. I have gone on these buses in Cape Town (South Africa) and Berlin (Germany). As tourists, we get to choose what we want to see and how much time we need to spend at each location in order to meet one of the four expectations that we have - visual, gastronomical, experiential and educational.

For all these four areas that I can think off the cuff, I think Penang has all the offerings that foreigners consider as authentic. This is perhaps one of the reason why in a television interview in an overseas channel, Penang was voted the best retirement place in the region.

Even Bersih 5 can be a tourist draw

I cannot end without giving my thumbs-up to Tourism Minister Nazri Aziz who suggested recently that Bersih 5 could become a major attraction to foreign tourists visiting Malaysia. As it is, Bersih rallies have always been peaceful and to some extent having a carnival mood.

However, Nazri has to first convince the hardliners in Umno that they should handle the situation well in order not to further damage the relationship between the Barisan Nasional government and the civilians. Bersih 3 was one of the worst portrayals of a hardline government’s stance against what was otherwise a peaceful rally.

Foreign tourists coming out in big numbers and mingling with Bersih 5 supporters will provide a positive experience that they would otherwise not experience. With nearly 200,000 people turning up for such a major event, there is always a lot of entertainers who are willing to stage a show for free, not forgetting that most Malaysians who turn up at the street rally are of a certain standing in society.

Perhaps, Nazri should take the lead by going down to Bersih 5 come Nov 19. He can and should encourage foreign tourists to do the same. There is no reason to be afraid. The police will be there to ensure their safety like they did a professional job during Bersih 4. The police will have to separate both red- and yellow-shirts during the few hours on the streets, allowing only tourists to go out to mingle with both sides.

I hope this article will stimulate a lot of discussion within the tourism industry. It is not intended to be a comprehensive research paper, because it is written from a hotel in Hanoi and late at night.

STEPHEN NG is an ordinary citizen with an avid interest in following political developments in the country since 2008.