Success Of Vm2026 Depends Mainly On The Response Of Singaporeans

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HAD it not been for Singapore—tiny in territorial size, small in population but a giant in economic might, and situated just across the Johor Straits—there will be little for Malaysia to shout about inbound tourism.

Visit Malaysia 2026 (VM2026) cannot be hailed a success if visitor arrivals were only 26 million instead of the 47 million as targeted. This will be the scenario if the number of Singaporean arrivals were not counted.
There were 26.1 million tourist arrivals and 8.9 million excursionist arrivals in 2019, or a total of 35 million visitor arrivals.
Last year, we received 25 million tourist arrivals and 13 million excursionist arrivals, making it a total of 38 million. This year, the number will exceed 40 million visitor arrivals.
But if the island of Singapore were to be located next to Bangkok, Manila or Jakarta, the number of Singaporean arrivals could easily ensure the success of any Visit Thailand Year, Visit Philippines Year, or Visit Indonesia Year.
On its own, tourism in Singapore had been more successful than generally perceived. More than six years ago, I made an analysis and wrote “Tourism industry players not keeping abreast with the times” which was published on Mar 3, 2019.
In 2018, tourist arrivals to Malaysia were 25,832,354, while Singapore registered 18,506,619. But if the number of Singaporean tourists to Malaysia was not counted and similarly for Malaysian tourists to Singapore, the number to Malaysia would drop to only 15,216,368 and Singapore higher at 17,252,627.
If arrivals from eight other Asean nations were similarly excluded, the number to Malaysia would be down to 7,717,908 and Singapore far ahead with 11,985,897.
(Image: FirstClasse)The main reason why 7,498,460 tourists from other Asean countries visited Malaysia compared to 5,266,730 to Singapore was because of land border crossings from Thailand and Brunei.
For example, Brunei with a population of about 437,000 contributed 1,382,011 tourists to Malaysia, similar to Singapore’s population of 5,842,000 with 13,942,967 tourists to Malaysia in 2014. In contrast, Singapore registered only 74,960 tourists from Brunei in 2018.
Both Malaysia and Singapore received about the same number of tourists from Indonesia, Cambodia and Laos. But the total number of tourists from Vietnam, Philippines and Myanmar to Singapore, at 1,515,338, was much higher than 810,153 to Malaysia.

If Tan Sri Michelle Yeoh were to make an appearance at the launch of VM2026 at Bukit Bintang, Kuala Lumpur in January next year, the publicity would further boost the image of our country, especially the millions of Chinese diaspora spread all over the world, including Australia, Canada, US and Europe.
Lest we forget, a high percentage of Asean visitors to Malaysia have Chinese roots. Last year, visitors from Asean countries accounted for 74.3% of all arrivals to Malaysia.
Therefore, it is imperative that loudmouthed politicians be reined in from spreading hostilities against foreigners over mainstream and social media.
With two million Singaporeans entering Malaysia a month during peak periods, we must facilitate smooth entry and exits. With Singaporeans flooding retail, food and beverage outlets and prices may rise, it is easy to stir up resentment.

Hence, publicity and promotions alone cannot ensure the success of VM2026. Bottlenecks must be cleared and contingency plans in place to manage incidents and accidents swiftly before they fester and develop into full blown disasters. 
YS Chan is the master trainer for Mesra Malaysia and Travel and Tours Enhancement Course. He is an Asean Tourism Master Trainer and also a tourism and transport business consultant.
The views expressed are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of  MMKtT.
- Focus Malaysia

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