Contemporary Issues in Malaysia Tourism

This report discusses the contemporary issues in Malaysia tourism, including tourist market potential, transport development, accommodation development, crisis and risk management, social media influence, and visitor experience development. It explores the potential of the tourism market in Malaysia, the development of transportation and accommodation facilities, the management of risks and crises, the influence of social media on marketing approaches, and the development of visitor experiences. The report also highlights the challenges and opportunities faced by the tourism industry in Malaysia.

Running head: MARKETING
Contemporary issues in Malaysia tourism
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Table of contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Body...........................................................................................................................................2
Tourist market potential.........................................................................................................2
Transport development...........................................................................................................3
Accommodation development...............................................................................................4
Crisis and risk management...................................................................................................5
Social media influence...........................................................................................................6
Visitor experience development.............................................................................................8
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................8
References................................................................................................................................11

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Introduction
The report is prepared to discuss about the contemporary tourism issues associated
with the tourism destination in Malaysia. The report will present about the various tourism
and hotel issues related to the destination in Malaysia and at the same time, determine the
potential of tourism market in the concerned location along with the development of transport
related issues too (Tourism.gov.my 2019). The assignment will also present us an idea about
the development of accommodation facilities in the location and even deal with the risk and
crisis management for addressing the risks and issues considered by the destination managers
to make the location a great place for people to visit.
Not only all these aspects will be included, but also the impact of social media
platforms and how it has influenced the marketing approaches for the destination will be
illustrated here considering the fact that more tourists will be drawn towards the destination.
This will allow for improving the marketing approaches’ efficiency, furthermore ensure
attracting new tourists and even retain the existing tourists to make the place a popular tourist
destination for people to visit consistently (Tang, Cheam and Ong 2017). The potential of the
experiences of visitors will be assessed as well for ensuring that the destination is managed
properly and taken care of for making it a place that the tourists can experience peacefully
and this shall result in higher level of satisfaction among the tourists with ease and
effectiveness.
Body
Tourist market potential
The tourism market potential is positive and there are evidences of success within this
industry, in spite of the obstacles and challenges faced along the way. It has been found that
the tourism industry in Malaysia strives to accomplish the tourism goals and objectives by

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achieving target of more than 36 million tourists every year and even aiming to achieve the
profit of more than Rm168 billion in tourist receipts at the end of the year 2020
(Tourism.gov.my 2019). To improve the tourism potential, the promotional strategies and
campaigns have helped in accomplishing the business goals and at the same time, worked in
partnership with both the local and global partners along with the stakeholders for gaining
success all throughout, furthermore make the year 2020 as Visit Malaysia Year for the
purpose of promoting the tourism services offered. This would also help in boosting the
arrival of tourists and gain higher number of tourism receipts.
But, one of the major issues is the poor approach towards sustainability and not
keeping the environment safe and healthy, which can harm the ecological balance in nature as
well as reduce the number of visitors to the destination. This could also result in degrading
the natural resources and at the same time, create difficulty in managing the supply chains,
furthermore create complexities in the way the tourism destinations can be kept safe and
healthy for the tourists to visit (Ng et al. 2017). Considering the good potential of the tourism
market, one emerging tourist market segment could be the eco-tourism or green tourism that
should suit the appropriate market for the destination. The targeted market segment include
the trekkers, nature lovers, etc. who should be allowed to visit various eco-tourism
destinations, especially the jungle treks, spotting wildlife, enjoying the flora, fauna and
biodiversity on land and in sea as well. The eco-tourism has great potential within the
Malaysian tourism market and this could not only help in making people aware of the
biodiversity of the eco-tourism places, but should also preserve the natural resources and
ensure keeping the environment safe and healthy too at Malaysia (Bbc.com 2019).
Transport development
The development of transportation facilities plays a major role in managing
international trade activities in Malaysia and can also facilitate leveraging the accessibility

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and connectivity by managing digital marketing techniques while optimising the up-to-date
information technology systems for promoting the tourism services in Malaysia. This will
also allow the tourists to make bookings of transportation online for visiting the popular
destinations all over Malaysia and even suit the needs of people at a specific time, place and
situation. The safety and security issues have been important considering the indispensable
condition for travel and tourism and these issues are often the case of changes in the tourism
sector leading to negative consequences such as crime, terrorism, etc (Bbc.com 2019). Often
the natural disasters have caused transportation issues, due to which, the tourists have faced
difficulties in visiting the places all over Malaysia properly. The inadequate infrastructural
facilities have also affected the management of accommodation and transportation
facilities in Malaysia. The public transportation facilities are too frequently often not
found to be accessed by tourists to move away from the main city or town. The taxi
fares are also higher, which might not be affordable for the tourists to visit the concerned
destination on time. The transportation development has been possible with the development
of tourism buses and the good network management is facilitated furthermore with the
inclusion of trains, buses and taxis that provide great transportation facilities to the tourists
(Rode et al. 2017). There are regular flights to the Malaysian airport that promotes Malaysian
tourism, which has raised the awareness among people too and influenced them to visit the
tourist destinations much more frequently. There is car rental system and the economy air
conditioned coaches available in the trains further facilitate improved transportation from
Peninsular Malaysia via Thailand and Singapore. Thus, the improvement in transportation
facilities should ensure that the tourism industry in Malaysia can flourish and become one of
the nation’s major supporting economic pillars too.

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Accommodation development
The lack of proper management of infrastructure is one of the major issues that have
affected some of the accommodation facilities related to the tourism in Malaysia. The tourism
in Malaysia is confident of the tourism industry and considers that it has great potential in the
upcoming years with the evolvement achieved through development of new infrastructures,
tourist attractions, implementing new organisational and tourism policies and incentives too
(Mosbah and Al Khuja 2014). To resolve the issues related to the inadequate tourism
infrastructural facilities that have affected the accommodation development, the tourism
industry has focused on the management of hotels consisting of effective technologies to
create convenience for the tech savvy travellers and some individuals who are comfortable
with the use of mobile apps and websites. Wi-Fi support has been enabled at hotels for
fostering growth and development in the accommodation facilities while increased emphasis
on the sustainability management has been one of the recent trends within the industry as
well. The development of eco-tourism is facilitated with the introduction of eco-huts and eco-
lodges to deal with the ecological issues and at the same time, promote awareness of
conservation of natural resources and protection of environment too (Bbc.com 2019). These
are the recent trends that support the development of accommodation facilities in the tourism
sector of Malaysia and should also help in promoting the sustainable tourism within the
Malaysian tourism sector with much convenience.
Crisis and risk management
One of the major crisis situations is related to the lack of managing an appropriate risk
management framework by the tourism companies. This has created confusions among the
tourism companies to identify the issues properly and this has further affected the business
functioning by not being able to identify the needs and preferences of clients with ease. There
have been increase in crime rates and the tourists have often been victims of theft and

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robbery, which hindered the security and safety of tourists too at Malaysia (Bhuiyan, Siwar
and Ismail 2013). There were language barriers and poor communication skills along with
poor management of tourism activities, which further hindered the successful management of
tourism activities all over, furthermore deteriorating the business performance and profit level
achieved by the tourism industry in Malaysia as well. The lack of hospitality training and
educational facilities along with lack of empowerment of workers further contributed to more
issues and risks, which deteriorated the quality of services and created labour shortages too
within the tourism industry. The technological problems were associated with the lack of
interactive reservation systems and poor innovation, which further deteriorated the yield
management and affected the management of sustainable tourism activities in Malaysia
(Amin et al. 2013). The managers of the destination must consider all these issues to make
sure that these could be overcome and the tourists are taken care of properly for managing the
tourism activities and at the same time, facilitate the creation of awareness among people
regarding the tourism services provided by the Malaysian tourism sector.
Social media influence
Social media has revolutionized the business practices of tourism industry. Adopting
direct and indirect marketing strategies have enabled the Malaysia tourism industry personnel
to reach to large number of customers. As a matter of specification, social media acts
assistance in terms of promoting the current trends in tourism services. Trials and
experiments for the proposed plans and strategies helps Malaysia tourism industry to assess
the behavioural approach of the customers towards the proposed offers, schemes and
discounts (Hvass and Munar 2012). Uploading the information of the schemes, discounts and
offers, planned for the eco-tourism packages is one of the effective options for conveying the
essential information to the clients and the customers.

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Incorporation of marketing mix helps Malaysia tourism industry personnel to examine
the impact of social media marketing on the promotion of the marketing strategies. Hiring
Malaysia Airlines for sponsoring the promotional advertisements, acts as an agent in terms of
enhancing the supply chain network. Within this, levying the information of the rental cars,
which provides services to the hotels within the jungles. This is in terms of catering to the
difficulties, which persists in reaching to the hotels situated amidst the wilderness. Along
with this, sending direct mails to the clients and the customers, about the tourism packages
regarding fusion foods and free passes for the cultural shows in the Eco huts, is an initiative
of Malaysia tourism industry personnel to improvise on the servings to the tourists, who are
nature lovers (Rode et al. 2017). Uploading the blogs of the customers and the clients on the
websites acts as a word-of-mouth advertising for the eco-tourism services. Strategic approach
in promoting the advertisements enhance the brand image.
According to Connell (2013), security cookies and policies aids Malaysia tourism
industry personnel to preserve the security, privacy and confidentiality within the responses
provided by the clients and the customers. Reference can be cited of Data Protection Act
(1998), which proves effective in terms of preserving the confidentiality with the
organizational data. Market research regarding adoption of the software with latest and
modern features is an approach towards ensuring the wellbeing of the customers (AlBattat
and Som 2013). Apart from this, partnerships with the website developers supports the
Malaysian tourism industry personnel beautify the services for promoting the services.
Activities like pay per click advertising helps Malaysian tourism industry personnel to
assess the number of visitors. Tracking the number of visitors into the website is assistance
towards assessing the feasibility, appropriateness and feasibility of the plans and strategies
(Express.co.uk 2019). Along with this, this promotional activity is assistance in terms of

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attaining financial flexibility. Surveys and feedbacks exposes the approach of the customers
towards the levied tourism packages (Hassan 2014).
Visitor experience development
According to the visitor’s experience, theme parks have attained transformations in
the recent times. However, the proper marketing in terms of sustainable tourism is meagre,
which deprives the children from fulfilling their entertainment needs. Proper safety and
security measures have added to the choice of the site as the preferred destination. This can
be supported with the data revealing 75.3% of the tourists travelling for the purpose of
leisure. However, limited number of rides can deprive the children getting the required
entertainment. Introduction of more rides would be the prime responsibility of the park
operators in terms of attracting the tourists travelling with their families (Jamal, Aminudin
and Rahman 2017). Within this, testing of the rides would be a wise approach towards
ensuring the security of the children. Along with this, introducing accidental policies for the
customers would be effective for gaining trust, dependence and loyalty (Lovelock and
Lovelock 2013).
One of the other areas of visitors’ experience can be food. The visitors point out to the
diversity, which exists in the cuisines. Fusion foods have adversely affected the appetite
cravings of the customers. Hygiene is one of the aspects, which lack effectiveness in the
hotels within the forests. Hygienic presentation of foods would be crucial for catering to the
health issues of the guests. This type of presentation would be beneficial, especially for the
tourists travelling with the families (Saarinen and Rogerson 2014). Usually, it would add to
the surprise of the tourists regarding the availability of such foods in wilderness. For this, the
restaurant owners need to be adopt frequent quality control examinations for the produced
food items. Maintaining frequency in these tests would be effective for upgrading the
standards and quality of the food and beverage management (Hartmann 2014).

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Conclusion
Vacation provides the much needed relaxation to the people from the drab monotony
of life. In order to enjoy to the fullest, people search for prospective sources, which would
help them in getting the required enjoyment. According to the recent tourism trends, there has
been an increase in the tourists, preferring to spend vacation in the lapses of Nature. Through
these issues, the report exposes the different customer behaviours related to the levied
tourism services.
Eco-tourism is one of the emergent trends in the tourism sector, which gains
importance through the report. Within this, mention can be made of the rental cars and bus
services plying from the Malaysia airports, addressing the concerns of the visitors regarding
reaching to the hotels within the forests, safely. Eco-huts suffices the need for gaining a wild
experiences within the lapses of Nature. Cultural shows in these huts acts assistance for the
Malaysian hotels regarding attracting tourists across the world. However, inadequate
infrastructural facilities deprive the nature lovers regarding the cravings related to enjoying
the vacations in the calm and serene ambience of nature. Along with this, crisis and risks like
terrorist attacks influence the purchasing power and decisions regarding availing the services
of ecotourism. Visitors experiences regarding the lack of enough rides in the theme parks and
improper hygiene facilities adds to the complexities regarding achieving customer
satisfaction.
Social media marketing gains an important position in the report. Uploading the
information about the special discounts, schemes and offers on the websites is a means for
increasing the trafficking of the audience towards the brand image. Within this, the report
focuses on the aspect of pay per click advertisements, which assists Malaysia tourism
industry personnel to assess the number of visitors. One of an important issue in this
direction, which the report focuses on, is security cookies and policies, which caters to the

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privacy, confidentiality and security within the personal data of the clients and the customers.
Moreover, the report highlights social media as one of the effective platforms for improving
the stability in the relationship with the customers. Surveys and feedbacks assist in gaining an
insight into the specific tastes and preferences of the tourists.

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