Ministry Urged To Relook At Tourism Regulations

PETALING JAYA (Selangor, Malaysia) Aug 2 (Bernama) -- Tourism Productivity Nexus has urged the government to relook at regulations that involve tourism transportation, saying the majority have become obsolete. Its chairman Uzaidi Udanis said currently there are various acts related to road, railway, maritime and air transport that have become a hindrance to the growth of the industry. "We aim to reduce the unnecessary burden faced by the tourism players. Some of the regulations can be simplified and some need to be relooked with the new growth in the tourism sector," he said in a press conference here Thursday. Among the preliminary regulatory issues are unregulated modes of transport, unwieldy licence application and approval process, as well as overly complex regulations under the Tourism Vehicles (Licensing and Control of Tourism Vehicles) Regulations 2000. Uzaidi also said that suggestions such as to create a caravan park, with the trend for recreational vehicles including motorhomes on the rise, will also be raised with the relevant authorities. "We will engage with the stakeholders first and validate the reasoning with the regulators as well as the relevant ministries by the end of September," he said. In 2017, Malaysia received a total of 25,948,459 international tourists who contributed RM82.2 billion to the country’s revenue. Uzaidi also said that Malaysia needs to step up in the tourism landscape as competition has become tough especially in the ASEAN region. "Tourist arrivals had dropped by three per cent last year, and we can see Vietnam’s tourism industry is growing steadily at 29 per cent, while Thailand’s is growing at 15 per cent," he said. He highlighted that Malaysia is lagging behind in the rapidly growing market segment for high-end tourists especially from China. "The tourism industry is very dynamic. Not only are tourists here for a vacation but the industry is also a gateway for future investment into the country," he said. Tourism Productivity Nexus is a one-stop platform that helps small and medium enterprises in the tourism industry increase their productivity and innovation. -- BERNAMA