Six key issues affecting Tourism Growth

The Tourism Ministry has identified six issues affecting the growth of the tourism industry which must be addressed immediately.

6 Key Issues

• Dirty Toilets
• Unscrupulous Taxi Drivers
• Beggars
• Lack on Cleanliness on Highways
• High Toll Fees at the Second Link
• Personal Safety

Deputy Tourism Minister Datuk Donald Lim said tourists cited dirty toilets, unscrupulous taxi drivers, beggars, lack on cleanliness on highways, high toll fees at the Second Link and personal safety as their main concerns.

“Local authorities and the Housing and Local Government Ministry must ensure that toilets at restaurants and hotels, especially the one and two-star ones, are clean.

“We also need local authorities, especially Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL), to take action against beggars so that they do not affect the country’s image,” he said after chairing a meeting of a special committee that assists and overcomes problems faced by foreign tourists in Malaysia yesterday.

Lim said local authorities also needed to address the cleanliness issue on all highways, together with the Malaysian Highway Authority (MHA).

“We have received complaints that there is a lot of rubbish and empty bottles on the highways,” he said.

He also urged MHA to review toll charges at the Second Link as tourists from Singapore were refusing to use the bridge to enter Malaysia.

“Of the 17.5 million tourists who visited Malaysia last year, nine million were from Singapore and only 10% of them used the Second Link,” he said.

He said the main reason why tourists were not using the Second Link was that it was more expensive and further from Johor Baru city centre.

Lim also said that the Commercial Vehicle Licensing Board must ensure that all taxis had fare meters and added that the increasing number of snatch thefts in the capital was another worry.

Source : STAR
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