KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 15 (NNN-BERNAMA) — The Visit Malaysia 2020 (VM2020) year-long effort is like throwing a big feast for all Malaysians as it is expected to bring economic spillover nationwide.
Tourism Malaysia director-general Musa Yusof said VM2020 is a national agenda that requires the involvement of all parties whether from the urban or rural areas to jointly promote it and get themselves ready to welcome the “guests”.
“Malaysia welcomes the world, we want to make the VM2020 campaign as a big feast to welcome the ‘guests’, therefore there must be proper decorations, we have to clean our ‘house’ and be well prepared.
“Tourists who have come to Malaysia will share their experience with their friends and give recommendations on whether or not they should visit Malaysia,” he said when appearing as a guest on the ‘Ruang Bicara’ programme aired on Bernama TV recently.
Musa said the involvement of all parties would also help the country achieve the 30 million tourist arrivals and RM100 billion revenue target set in conjunction with VM2020.
“We consider VM2020 as a big feast for all Malaysians, let’s prepare our ‘house’ and greet the tourists with a big smile, attract them to visit our country and provide them with the best services.
“Based on our survey, 80 per cent of tourists who have visited Malaysia will come again, this is what we want,” he said.
Meanwhile, in order to ensure a more balanced economic spillover between urban and rural areas, Musa called for more efforts to be made to promote rural tourism, among others, through homestay service.
“For example, the homestay industry in the village areas in Cameron Highlands (in Pahang) alone can generate an income of RM2 million per year,” he said.
— NNN-BERNAMA