Singapore to remain Malaysia's most important source of foreign tourist arrival.

Date: 4 January 2013

Singapore to remain Malaysia's most important source of foreign tourist arrival.

SINGAPORE: Tourism Malaysia expects Singapore to remain the most important source of foreign tourist arrivals in Malaysia, registering more than 50 per cent of total arrivals annually.

Its director for Singapore, Zalizam Zakaria, said more Singaporeans were expected to visit Malaysia in the coming years, especially during Visit Malaysia Year 2013-2014. Malaysia ranks third, after Indonesia and China, for Singapore tourist arrivals.

Zalizam said 7.930 million tourist arrivals from Singapore were recorded between January and August last year, a drop of 7.5 per cent compared to the corresponding period in 2011. He explained that the decrease was due to the change of the "Country of Residence" to "Country of Nationality" in the data registration/entry format by the Malaysian Immigration Department from January last year.

  

"Since more than 25 per cent of Singapore residents are expatriates or foreigners, their visits to Malaysia has been registered under their own respective countries. This new format will no longer require visitors to fill up the embarkation card, thus smoothening the process at the Malaysian CIQ (Customs, Immigration and Quarantine) complex and make the visit more interesting and enjoyable with less hassle," he said.

Zalizam also said that Malaysia and Singapore had been complementing each other in the tourism sector. He said the opening of new products/attractions in Malaysia, such as the Johor Premium Outlet, Legoland, KidZania and Hello Kitty Town (Cartoon Character) at Puteri Harbour, offered a variety of choices to Singaporeans to spend their weekends and holidays in Malaysia.

Likewise, the opening of new attractions like the Gardens by the Bay park and extension of the Universal Studios Singapore (marine park) have attracted Malaysians to spend their holidays here, he added.

Zalizam also said that by adapting some new approaches, Singaporeans now had more choices to spend their holidays in Malaysia and what was more important was that they increased their frequency, which translated into an increase of arrivals.

The new approaches he had implemented so far included promoting less popular destinations like the east coast states of Kelantan, Terengganu and Pahang and Perak as well as having more advertorial of products and destinations in the print media, which provided more information for the readers and translated into new interest. "Promoting homestay, including homestay by rail, is another new approach," he said, adding that this product offered some unique experiences with a kampung (village) lifestyle rich in traditions and culture and a hassle-free environment.

Zalizam said he also encouraged more Malaysian private sector players (product owners) to participate in consumer fairs in Singapore, whereby they could sell their products/packages directly to the consumers. Another approach, he said, was to encourage cycling in Malaysia, which was now becoming a new sport in Singapore. Self-drive through motoring clubs to experience Malaysia on one's own was also encouraged, he added. - BERNAMA

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