Many people equate tourism with tourists on holidays, but the tourism industry is much more than that. It is critical for tourism industry players to identify who their customers are, where they come from and what are their needs.
While it is usual for the layman to stereotype tourists, it would be a blunder for those in the tourism business to make such a mistake, as they would be targeting the general market instead of focusing on a niche.
Interchanging of words along with different interpretations of technical terms have added to the overall confusion in the tourism industry. Even the academics are confused, as can be seen by the popularity of “Tourism & Hospitality” programmes offered by universities.
Hospitality, as an industry, includes accommodation and food and beverage, which is provided mainly by hotels and restaurants. Tourism encompasses many industries and naming one of them is superfluous. Hospitality students must excel in one area to find gainful employment, not superficial knowledge on tourism.
As for visitors, they could be foreign or domestic. According to the Department of Statistics, a domestic visitor is defined as Malaysians or foreigners including expatriates residing in Malaysia for at least a year and making a non-routine trip for business, leisure or personal purpose.
For day trippers returning home the same day, they are labelled excursionists. Those spending overnight away from home are counted as tourists. The Department of Immigration records all entries and exits at international checkpoints, and a foreigner entering our country for overnight stay is considered a visitor.
For example, many Singaporeans make multiple entries into Malaysia in a year and the number of visitor arrivals from Singapore far exceeds its entire population, contributing to almost half of the 26,757,392 visitors to Malaysia in 2017.
While Malaysian hotels, restaurants, theme parks, entertainment and shopping outlets benefited tremendously, there is little for local tour operators as most Singaporeans can manage themselves well in Malaysia, some treating the peninsula as their own backyard.
All visitors to our country or to a state should be welcomed, whether it is for business, leisure or personal purpose, as they are bound to spend on goods or services. Such tourism receipts contribute significantly to the local economy.
When officiating at the New Year countdown and launching the Visit Sarawak campaign at Kuching Waterfront, Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg said the state is targeting five million tourists and RM8.79 billion receipts for 2019, which will contribute seven percent to Sarawak’s GDP.
As the Visit Sarawak campaign will continue well into the future, new measures must be introduced from time to time to revitalise it, lest it become stale through overexposure from dishing out more of the same.
It is best to ask tourists what they want and the best time to find out is while they are waiting boringly for boarding at the airports. Many would be happy to share their holiday experience and expectation and delighted when presented with a souvenir.
Tourism students could be roped in and trained to conduct such exit interviews, and it is possible to subtly convert negative experiences into positive, induce visitors to come back for more by providing relevant information, such as forwarding interesting video clips to their phones.
For large tour and incentive groups, there is nothing more effective than a grand send-off before they board the aircraft by getting them to join in a traditional dance and distributing token gifts for those taking part. The fun could be recorded by video and sent to their chat group.
Information gathered from tourists at airports should be collated and shared monthly with industry players, and if possible, seminars organised to present such findings. Participants could also be invited to share ideas, which would bring fresh dynamism to the tourism industry.
Apart from responding to the needs of tourists, the industry could also be more proactive in creating new tourism products and tour packages including drone tourism. Sarawak’s tourism industry would be on song when both public and private sectors work closely together in concert. – YS CHAN
