What do the United Kingdom, France and the USA have in common? Well, apart from the fact that they are among the world’s most popular tourist destinations (France tops the list), the last time I checked, each of these countries does not have anything resembling a Ministry of Tourism and, better still therefore, each does not have a Tourism minister.
No tourism ministry… yet they are able to pull in tourists year in and year out? That should make us wonder why, I guess.
In this regard, the current Umno gig in Kuala Lumpur’s PWTC aside, this last week has seen the mainstream press — and certainly the online media — giving significant space to Malaysia’s own, irrepressible tourism minister, Datuk Dr Ng Yen Yen.
Yes, the same Dr Ng who had been strongly criticised on a number of occasions for, among other things, the apparent leak in the roof of the Malaysian pavilion at the Shanghai 2010 World Expo in China; the very same who was chastised for using quite a bit of the ministry’s coffers to pay a Malaysian starlet’s foreign fiancé a hefty fee — RM1 million according to confirmed reports — to be Malaysia’s tourism ambassador.
And a fat lot of good that seems to have done us.
This time around, Dr Ng’s ministry had been posed a question in Parliament by the Batu MP, Tian Chua, about its costs and the travel expenditure of the minister and her entourage.
It transpires that the minister has been notching up quite a few frequent flyer miles this year, spending more than RM1.5 million so far on official trips, while, conversely, there had been a reduction of 70 per cent in the expenditure for tourism promotional activities (from RM320 million in 2008 to less than RM100 million as of July 2010).
According to confirmed reports, among the costs incurred was that for a three-day official visit to Moscow for the minister and five other officials that cost (the taxpayer, as far as I know) more than RM155,000 each.
And a three-day working visit to Singapore for two that cost a further RM90,000 — that’s RM15,000 a day per person, mind you, which, roughly speaking, would be more than enough for a couple of visits to Universal Studios and some serious shopping at Orchard Road.
In response, Dr Ng came back with sawn-off pea shooters ablaze. Unfortunately, being armed with pea shooters, her counters truly sounded pathetic, lacking even snap, crackle and pop.
In the first place, accusing one’s critics as ‘generalists’ while declaring oneself to be a ‘specialist’, as the minister did, says absolute nothing if one cannot back that up with something substantial.
In the minister’s case, to justify the lower amount spent on the promotion of tourism and the, dare I say, exorbitant amount spent on travel expenditures, she claimed that tourist arrivals had been boosted by 2 million in 2009, from a 2008 figure of 22 million to 24 million in 2009.
Unfortunately, the minister would really need to do better than that, especially as a ‘specialist’. Indeed, how many of that ‘24 million’ can be defined as genuine tourists, as opposed to, say, Thai drivers crossing into and out of the Malaysia-Thai border and day trippers from Singapore?
And, really, if indeed the minister’s travels directly resulted in these increased tourist arrivals, as she asserts, she really would need to come up with more specific (specialised?) figures from the countries she visited.
Simply saying ‘my numbers have gone up’, taking personal credit for the work done by a whole ministry just won’t do. It might help in inflating one’s ego, but, beyond that, it’s just as vacuous as the person saying it.
For instance, to back up her claim that her visits resulted in tourists evidently flocking to our shores, the minister would need to provide, at the very least, before and after statistics of tourist arrivals from at least the 15 visits she has thus far made in 2010.
A thought just occurred — 15 overseas visits? Heck, that’s more than one a month. Any more and the minister could start training to be a commercial pilot or an airline stewardess.
But even if those tourist arrival statistics were made available, it would be a tough stretch for even a ‘specialist’ like the minister to prove a direct correlation between her travels to those countries and later tourist arrivals from those countries.
Indeed, in what way did she personally influence those extra tourists to visit ‘Malaysia Truly Asia’? Did she hold rousing rallies, firing up the potential tourists with Obama-esque comments like, ‘Yes, you can…visit us!’? Did she go door-to-door in those countries she visited, dishing out free Malaysia Truly Asia brooches?
I’m sure she did.
In this regard, indeed, do ask yourself: when was the last time you planned a holiday locally or overseas based on the comments or recommendations of a Tourism Ministry, let alone a minister?
As one commentator on the net nicely puts it: My friend and I travel quite a bit. We do not travel because foreign ministers come to Malaysia and encourage us. With the Internet, we choose our destinations and listen to others who have been to those destinations. We don’t need any help from the ministers. This is a fact.
But then again, this is 1Malaysia Bolehland. A land where our showy ministers continue to have grand plans to have erections in the middle of our capital city and grand designs, like declaring a state ‘developed’ and, soon after, having its brand new monorail system (costing a mere RM15.9 million) break down.
Yes, indeed, in this environment, it is not surprising that we continue to have a tourism ministry and such ministers.
The writer can be contacted via [email protected].