I REFER to the letter by tour guide Chua Eng Han (The Star, March 21) and would like to voice my concerns regarding his suggestions on how to revive Penang as the renowned Pearl of the Orient.

Much as I applaud Chua for his passion in providing suggestions to revitalise the country’s tourism industry, I must point out that his views reflect a poor understanding of the inbound tour industry

As a former tour guide, lecturer and examiner in tourism schools, I often found myself reminding potential tour guides of the limitations they face in deciding itineraries.

Despite our best of intentions to show the best of the country to foreign tourists, time is never on our side. With limited days to bring them around the country, it is only natural that any tourist destination remains but a one-night spot for most tourists.

Unless a group is here for a particular purpose such as to attend conferences or meetings, it gives them more value for their money when the tour covers a string of popular tourist spots along Kuala Lumpur, Cameron Highlands and Penang (up north) or Kuala Lumpur, Genting and Malacca (down south).

As a tour guide needs to cover all the designated spots in a particular itinerary, there is seldom time to cover anything else in between. But then again, that’s what you expect when you travel with a group tour anywhere in the world – every destination is a touch and go.

Having said that, I’m sure I’m not alone in saying that the last thing the tourism industry needs is more man-made tourism products.

Granted, many on cheap tours would enjoy superficial fun in theme parks, shopping malls and tourism spots such as Genting, Putrajaya or KLCC, which should be sufficient for the short time they are here. But at the end of the day, what is the take-home message that we have imparted?

As many of my tourists have said: “seen one city, seen them all.” With uprising cities and man-made wonders, we have become a country without a unique tourism identity.

Just as Indonesia has its spices and batik, Thailand has its massages, Hong Kong has its shopping and China has its Great Wall, every country that takes tourism seriously should have a clear-cut identity to the rest of the world that shouts – This is what Malaysia is about!

Personally, I feel the current tagline of Tourism Malaysia “Malaysia Truly Asia” has done more harm to the industry than the previous tagline of “To Know Malaysia Is To Love Malaysia”.

How can a foreign tourist be made to feel that he has experienced Asia just by visiting Malaysia – unless we’re talking about the large number of illegal Indonesians, Bangladeshis, Thais and Burmese walking openly on the streets?

But back to the issue of tourism products, one word says it all about man-made tourism products: “Enough.” We have sufficient artificial structures to keep the Asian tourists happy for the next 50 years.

What the industry sorely needs is the upgrading and maintenance of existing tourism sites. However, upgrading does not mean having thoughtless and costly beautification works that do not take into consideration the natural surroundings.

Glaring examples include Batu Caves in Selangor, Kek Lok Si Temple in Penang and Danga Bay in Johor Baru. They now look worse than before the upgrading works were done.

Strict control on development at nature-sensitive tourism sites such as the beach and island resorts, Gua Tempurung, Kuala Selangor and Taman Negara also warrants urgent attention.

Lastly, it would do a country great injustice if tourism takes precedence over the needs and concerns of the locals. It would be meaningless if a tourist finds out that an entire village was displaced to make way for a Disneyland replica in Johor, or that Malaysians need to sacrifice our own family values for the sake of attracting tourists through extended entertainment outlets.

What tourists want is simply to know more about Malaysia – the country, people and culture – as we really are. It takes a passionate and dedicated tour guide to impress that upon tourists within the short span of a few days, notwithstanding the restrictions in the tour itinerary, cost and others.

CHAN LI JIN,
Batu Caves.

Source: The Star – March 27, 2008