Why don’t you try it, traveling locally this year? Otherwise, tell me, what sort of theme and what sort of program would attract Malaysians to participate in this “Travel Malaysia Cuti-Cuti” program?

  • 100M – Japanese domestic traveler annually, As the Japanese are patriotic?
  • 15M – Taiwanese traveled domestically (with more than 10 million visits to its leisure farms).this because Taiwan is such a nice place?
  • 20M – The French, Italian, Spanish and Germans have traveling within their own country
  • 10M – US alone, privately-owned caravans traveling within states
  • 200M – Chinese traveler in country

However, what about number of Malaysian travel Cuti-Cuti Malaysia? I am sorry, I do not know from whom or from which department it is to get the correct answers. Furthermore, we have too many ministries….. It would be best to let someone bring it up in Parliament for answer.

will you participate in “Travel Malaysia Cuti-Cuti” program? Picture from placesonline.blogspot.com.

Well, ask yourself whether you have been on a tour within the country for the first half of this year? Or is it because economy air fare is so cheap that it has brought you to the Indochina for archaeological search or scuba-diving? Then, perhaps this is a mistake by Air Asia as you ARE indeed patriotic! (wanna to travel locally, in fact)

Frankly, why are you so reluctant to board this “Travel Malaysia” programmed for Malaysians? Perhaps you have been offered “travel first, pay later” concessions. Why don’t you try it, traveling locally this year? Otherwise, tell me, what sort of theme and what sort of program would attract Malaysians to participate in this “Travel Malaysia Cuti-Cuti” program?

In fact, how many Malaysians ever dreamt of visiting every single state in Malaysia? The Americans make it a point to visit all its 50 states in the United States during their life time, so would you follow suit by visiting all 13 states + WP in Malaysia?

Forget it about that topic; let’s go back to “basics and theme”. It is impossible for me to relate the travel basics of how interesting Malaysia is, why you must visit these places and to do it during your life time, much less what the “travel selling point” is. Then, does that mean there are no places in Malaysia worth visiting? Or that Malaysians are unpatriotic? Isn’t it true that Pulau Langkawi is a duty-free tourist attraction that is fully equipped (or has it been urbanized?). What about Pulau Redang (extensive exploitation has led to pollution?), or the world heritage historical relics of Penang and Melaka (failed due to improper conservation), or Mt. Kinabalu in Sabah or the limestone caves in Mulu Sarawak which have been regarded as treasures of the tropical forests. Perhaps all these sound attractive to you? May be not! Then what about the divers’ haven at Sipadan (but just how many of us know diving)……..

Of course lee-san thinks the way you think and we know that Malaysia is a haven for traveling but it lacks tourist attractions. Without this, it means emptiness within an attractive outfit and it is difficult to convince tourists.

In essence, Peninsular Malaysia together with Sabah and Sarawak possess rich natural resources but the lack of proper coordination has brought about failure. For example, we have very good spots for diving in Ocean Park but the approval by the government of the construction of a holiday resort at these every spots spoils it. Reports of these in the media might bring strong objections from the public but these never seem to last. And there are many more other things which we would like very much to voice out. The government cannot be totally blamed for them for we are sometimes irresponsible ourselves. Tidbits may be delicious but the stalls serving them may be so dirty and unacceptable. Delicious coffee coupled with the stench from the back lanes drive away tourists, and just who will return for more?

Finally, the economic downturn since November last year has brought fear to the newly appointed ministers, otherwise the broadcast of our popular travel program would not have just introduced a mere 25% on foreign travel with a major 75% focused on local travels. Nevertheless, it is right to do so and there is only one objective, that is, to encourage local travel and consumerism to help our country recover economically. But do you think this is viable? Would you be driven to participate because of these propaganda? Or because of the lack of propaganda, you will forgo traveling?

“Travel Cuti-Cuti Malaysia” is about to take-off, why haven’t you jumped aboard yet?


李桑 Author

李桑: 南极(3年3度游)、 北极正点N90°、 西伯利亚铁路9288公里、纵横世界75国; 主题深度の慢游达人