By Rafiqi Yusoff
KUALA LUMPUR, 31 March 2022: Malaysia’s attractiveness to a wide range of foreign tourists lies in the diversity of its people, culture and food, as well as a biodiversity of travel destinations, which are indeed the plus points in drawing travellers to the country.
Director of Media and Corporate Communication Division, Department of Information, Dr. Amerjit Singh Bhag Singh, shared his insights and thoughts regarding Public Relations strategies in promoting Visit Malaysia Year (VMY), particularly during the period he served at the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture in 2014.
Amerjit reckoned that diversity is the strength of Malaysia as it is a multicultural country that offers rich cultural heritage in which foreign tourists want to experience.
“Every tourist is like a journalist or a storyteller who will share their experience of Visit Malaysia Year with the world in any way, anytime, and anywhere,” Amerjit highlighted.
According to Amerjit, there are initiatives taken under Voluntourism in instilling civic consciousness including Malaysia Green Malaysia Clean project, Malaysia Volunsharing, and Malaysia Culture and Heritage.
“Through this spirit of voluntourism, the local community can help ensure cleanliness of all our tourism destinations,” Amerjit stressed, to inspire the local community on the important traits and values in practising cleanliness of all tourism spots throughout the country.
Amerjit also shared the accolades achieved by the Malaysian tourism industry which have made Malaysia stands at World Tourism rankings from the standpoint of the Public Relations.
Among the accolades lined up are Malaysia as the 9th most visited country in the world in four consecutive years from 2009 to 2012, the 6th largest component in the Malaysia economy (contributor of RM51.5 billion to the Gross National Income or GNI in 2013), and the 4th shopping destination in the world (according to statistics of CNN Travel 2012 @ 2013).
Amerjit said that promoting Malaysia at the international level is crucial by sharing authentic and credible stories with the rest of the world, particularly in harnessing the unique diversities of Malaysia.
Considering the challenges faced in order to achieve a successful VMY campaign, he conceded that the feedback on the level of quality and services provided to the tourists throughout their visit in Malaysia is one of the pivotal aspects that should be stressed on.
“This is why immediate ability to correct misperception, resolve issues and enhance key activities in real-time, are necessary because there is a competition among our neighbouring countries since they are fast catching up in promoting their countries as well,” Amerjit expressed.
He also advised that having good communication skills as well as good writing skills are the important qualities for the tourism industry in promoting Malaysia as a leading tourist destination in Asia.
Amerjit also holds that tourism is one of the economic generators towards the country. Hence, he said, it is the responsibility of everyone to promote Malaysia, not only the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture.
“The course of ‘We are the host’ is to encourage the local community to represent Malaysia as a warm and hospitable country. Other than the locals sharing their stories about places of interests, local crafts, traditions and cuisines”.
He further reckoned that there are many government agencies and private sector bodies cooperating in promoting Malaysia’s tourism as well as helping to ensure the success of the Visit Malaysia campaign.
The webinar was streamed live on the Asia Pacific University of Technology and Innovation’s Facebook page on Wednesday (March 30) which was informative for the audience to discover the current tourism scenarios in Malaysia.***