GIVEN the changing environment and intensifying competition in the tourism industry, Datuk Siew Ka Wei says his role as Tourism Malaysia chairman, which he took on nearly six months ago, is not an easy one.

“It is actually very challenging because of the changing environment, intensifying competition and new demands from travellers. People who travel nowadays want different things compared with years past and we need to evolve with this changing landscape. It is a learning process,” he tells The Edge.

A businessman for most of his working life, Siew says running Tourism Malaysia is like running a business. “All you need is a different approach [to Tourism Malaysia]. It is like a business. The business that we have here is to sell Malaysia, and we have to sell it well. This is a job that requires a lot of new things to be done. We must ensure we have clean public toilets, great accommodation, convenient transport, travel experiences and connectivity to the country.”

Siew is a substantial shareholder in media company Malay Mail Sdn Bhd as well as locally listed Ancom Bhd, which has a media and outdoor advertising business — Redberry Sdn Bhd. Among the subsidiaries parked under Redberry is Meru Utama Sdn Bhd, the sole concessionaire to operate the indoor advertisement spaces at Kuala Lumpur International Airport, klia2 and Senai International Airport in Johor.

Some critics say there could be a conflict of interest, given Siew’s position at Tourism Malaysia while he is also a major shareholder of a media group. But he says there is none.

“Everything is based upon existing contracts. Contractors and agents of the ministry make the decision on what assets to utilise. The decision is not made by me. My media group has hardly any real advertising from the tourism board,” he says.

“Secondly, even before I became chairman many years ago, Tourism Malaysia was already advertising with the group because of the assets we have — especially the ones at the airports. We have not got anything additional ... nothing beyond what we normally do.”

The biggest issue in his first five months in the job has been the budget because of the shortage of funds, Siew says.

“In the last four to five years, the ministry’s advertising and promotion budget has been cut. At the same time, the US dollar has appreciated against the ringgit, so our cost of advertising and promotion has gone up. There is greater demand on total resources but fewer resources to give,” he says.

The advertising and promotion budget for The Tourism and Culture Ministry was RM290 million in 2012, RM280 million in 2013, RM279 million in 2014, RM250 million in 2015 and RM167 million in 2016. Tourism remains the third largest contributor to the economy.

Today, Siew says, the department’s deficit is “quite large” but declines to reveal the figure. It has been running a deficit for two years.

“The deficit has been a mounting issue that we must address. I think in the next two years, the budget deficit will be gone,” he explains.

Asked how he plans to do so, Siew says it will be through better allocation of resources.

“Part of the recent cost-cutting is to reduce the strain on resources, but the RM8 million to RM10 million a year cost savings alone from the rationalisation of offices will not address the issue. We need to increase the allocation for tourism from the government directly or indirectly. We need to change the way we allocate resources,” he says.

The Tourism and Culture Ministry announced last month that it is closing all its offices nationwide to avoid duplication as state government promotion agencies play a similar role.

It also announced the closures of five offices in New York, Perth, Stockholm, Los Angeles and Johannesburg following the termination of Malaysia Airlines Bhd’s (MAB) flights to these destinations.

In September last year, Tourism and Cultural Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz said the government is mulling a proposal to impose an accommodation fee to raise revenue and promote the country as a tourism destination. News reports say the fee could be between RM5 (US$1.20) and RM30 per room per night for hotels and accommodation rented out to tourists.

Siew says it is up to the government. Should it be implemented, he says Tourism Malaysia will be transparent on how it spends the money.

A need to evolve

The main key performance indicator for Siew and his team is to get more tourists to visit the country.

How does Tourism Malaysia plan to do this with a lower budget and rising competition from neighbouring countries? Siew acknowledges that Tourism Malaysia needs to evolve and do things differently.

“We have to be more clever about selling Malaysia now. The idea is to think outside the box. It is not just about advertise and the tourists will come — it doesn’t quite work like that now.

“We need to create and sell experiences. People will not remember going to buy a handbag. You create experiences for the tourists to come back. You must make it convenient for them. You must make it value for money, not necessarily cheap. Cheap is not the way to go. It must be value for money ... is it worth spending that dollar? It is also about packaging Malaysia in a way that we end up on the bucket lists of world travellers.

“Food seems to be the main item to attract people to come here. But we must do more than that. Food is just incidental. Shopping is incidental. We have to create the experiences,” Siew stresses.

He says that while the slogan and concept of Malaysia Truly Asia are known far and wide, there are still a lot of things to be done to package the country as an attractive holiday destination.

Tourism Malaysia, he says,  will be moving more to the internet. “Many travellers use the net as the basis for their choice. We are looking at new partnerships with companies like AliTrip, wechat and Tripadvisor. These will help push the message to a much wider audience. This is where the new money will go to moving forward.”

Previously, less than 10% of the budget was allocated to the internet but Siew says this will increase moving forward. The target this year is to bring in 31.8 million tourists.

“If that is achieved, it will be the first time the number of tourists surpasses the population of Malaysia,” he says.

In 2014, some 27.44 million tourists visited the country, bringing in RM72 billion in receipts. This fell to 25.7 million tourists with RM69.1 billion in receipts in 2015, partly due to the two aviation tragedies. Tourist arrivals hit 19.7 million in January to September 2016, up 3.6% year on year, with receipts rising 18.6% to RM60.6 billion for the same period.

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