M'SIAN TOURISM INDUSTRY TO WEATHER TOUGH ECONOMIC TIMES - MATTA

By Muin Abdul Majid

DUBAI, May 7 (Bernama) -- The Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel
Agents (Matta) believes that the Malaysian tourism industry will be able to
weather the current global economic downturn that is affecting travel demand.

Matta president Ngiam Foon said Malaysia would still stand to gain from
changes in travel patterns as people and businesses curbed travel.

"I believe there is an upside for Malaysia in the sense that people would
tend to go back to a country they're familiar with," he said, observing that
Malaysia was quite a well-known destination among Middle Easterners.

Speaking to Bernama on the sidelines of the Arabian Travel Market (ATM) 2009
at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre here, Ngiam said
that all things considered, the number of visitors to Malaysia would at best be
at the same level as last year.

In 2008, Malaysia drew 22.05 million visitors, including 264,338 arrivals
from the Middle East, generating RM49.56 billion (US$13.76 billion) in
receipts.

"If we're able to achieve the same level as in 2008, we'd be very
happy,"
said the president of Matta, an association comprising some 2,500 members
throughout the country.

Making an observation on the level of service provided by the Malaysian
hospitality industry, Ngiam said all the stakeholders had an interest to
improve things further.

"We're not there yet. I think that there's still plenty of room for
improvement. There's a need to inculcate what I call the 'tourism culture'
among the staff of all service providers, ranging from the hotels to taxi
drivers and so on," he said.

Ngiam felt that this was one key issue that the government should focus on
in its bid to increase tourism earnings.

Tourism Malaysia has brought in 84 organisations comprising 55 hotels, 23
tour operators, four state governments, KL Tower and Malaysia Airlines for the
16th edition of the ATM.

The three-day tourism show ends Friday.

-- BERNAMA