SEPANG: PRIME Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has urged Malaysians to make Visit Malaysia Year 2020 (VMY2020) a national mission by sharing with the world the country’s wonders and beauty.
All Malaysians, he said, had a role in the tourism promotion campaign, adding that the famed Malaysian hospitality must not remain a mere slogan, but translated into action.
“Tourists will expect to find their hosts hospitable, always smiling and helpful. Help them get to know Malaysia,” he said after the launch of the Visit Malaysia Year 2020 campaign logo at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) yesterday.
Tourism, he said, remained one of the country’s most important economic and services sectors as it generated not only income, but also jobs.
He hoped VMY2020 would succeed in its target of 30 million tourist arrivals and RM100 billion tourist receipts.
He said increasing flight connectivity to Malaysia was among the initiatives to boost arrivals and meet the campaign’s targets.
“If we have better air accessibility connecting other cities with Malaysia, we can receive more tourists. We need to connect and reach out to high-yield markets that are Malaysia’s target markets for this campaign: Asean, China, India, the United Kingdom and Germany.”
Dr Mahathir said between January and May, there were 10.95 million tourist arrivals, a 4.8 per cent growth compared with 10.45 million tourist arrivals in the corresponding period last year.
“Tourism revenue for the first quarter of this year increased to RM21.4 billion, a surge of 16.9 percent compared with the same period the year before.
“In 2018, 25.8 million tourists visited our shores, and Malaysia secured 15th place among countries with the highest number of tourist arrivals.”
He expressed confidence that Malaysia would record more than three million Chinese tourist arrivals next year.
He said the VMY2020 campaign focused on ecotourism, arts and culture, in line with the National Ecotourism Plan 2016-2025 and National Culture Policy, which place ecotourism, arts and culture as the main focus and the path forward in the development of the tourism industry.
Dr Mahathir also unveiled the VMY2020 logo.
The logo, part of the campaign’s marketing and promotional efforts, features recognisable icons of Malaysia, such as the hornbill, hibiscus, wild fern and colours of the Malaysian flag, representing the diversity of Malaysia’s culture, heritage, flora and fauna, as well as experiences it offered as a holiday destination.
The logo was the brainchild of Alfred Pua, 23, a graphic designer from Melaka who beat hundreds in the logo contest. He was presented with a certificate of appreciation at the event.
The logo will replace the one launched by former tourism and culture minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz on the sidelines of the Asean Tourism Forum in Chiang Mai, Thailand, last year.
Dr Mahathir witnessed a ceremony to exchange a memorandum of joint promotion between Tourism Malaysia and various parties, including Malaysia Airlines, AirAsia, Firefly, Malindo Air, Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd and Sharp (M) Electronics Sdn Bhd.
He also witnessed the unveiling of the VMY2020 livery on four aircraft at the Bunga Raya Complex.