Welcome Rakan Sarawak July 2005

Rangkaian Khidmat Awam Negeri Sarawak

A MONTHLY SUPPLEMENT OF RAKAN SARAWAK BULLETIN

(People, events, activities and programmes which make for a total quality-managed Sarawak Civil Service)

ISSN 1394-5726

Online Publisher:

Contents provided by:

Tourism Industry Second Largest Revenue Earner

For 5 consecutive years, the tourism industry in Malaysia is the second largest revenue earner after the manufacturing industry. About 15 million tourist arrivals were recorded in 2004, which brought in an estimated RM30 billion in foreign exchange. A global phenomenon, the tourism industry has great potential for further growth in the world and Asia. France is currently the most popular tourist destination with 77 million tourists in 2002 followed by Spain with 51.7 million and United States (US) with 41.9 million.

The World Tourism Organization reported a year-on-year tourism growth of more than 12% or 526 million people last year of which Asia Pacific recorded a growth of 37%. The leader in the Asia Pacific region is South East Asia with a growth in arrival rate of 45%, of which Malaysia recorded the highest year-on-year arrival increases of 65%.

Tourism in the Malaysia encompasses sports tourism, health tourism, education tourism, eco-tourism and agro-tourism. This conglomerate of tourism choices in the country stem from the changing scenario of the tourism industry, which is no longer just about traveling and sight-seeing. It is more about
activity related travel that is gaining in popularity among tourists who want to witness first-hand and experience hands-on the unique cultures available in various countries.

A survey by an American Travel Magazine indicated that approximately 89% of US tourists travel to Asia to experience the different Asian cultures. Malaysia has managed to encapsulate the nation’s melting pot of cultures in its tourism theme of “Malaysia Truly Asia”, while Sarawak is right on track with its C.A.N. theme – culture, adventure and nature. Besides C.A.N., the state is also promoting its activity related tourism through M.I.C.E. – meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions.

Sarawak projects to attract 5 million tourist arrivals by 2006, which is about 36% increase from the 3.2 million tourists recorded in 2003. A recent tourism event in Sarawak is the recent 8 th World Foochow Congress, where 3,000 Foochow clan members from 17 Provinces in China met in Kuching. This convention-related event provided the opportunity to promote the state’s warm hospitability, rich culture and exotic cuisines to the Chinese clans. The number of participants in the Congress is a good indication of the upcoming tourist market from China that has overtaken Japan as the largest number of
travelers with 20.2 million visits.

This trend could also be observed by the increase in Chinese visitors to Malaysia from 420,000 in 2004 as compared to 220,000 in 2003.