JUNE 30 — Langkawi offers an important warning to Port Dickson, but the warning must be stated accurately.

It would be factually wrong to claim that tourism in Langkawi has simply collapsed under the PAS-led Kedah government. Official figures from the Langkawi Development Authority show that visitor arrivals have recovered strongly since the Covid-19 pandemic.

Langkawi received about 2.58 million visitors in 2022, 2.81 million in 2023 and 2.90 million in 2024. The island’s tourism authorities reported further growth in 2025. Langkawi International Airport also handled nearly 2.92 million passengers in 2025, an increase of 14.5 per cent, while airline seat capacity expanded by 17.1 per cent. New and chartered services from cities such as Tashkent, Warsaw and Chengdu strengthened international connectivity.

These are not the figures of a destination experiencing an absolute tourism crash.

Yet visitor arrivals alone do not tell the whole story.

The more serious question is whether Langkawi’s image as a confident, internationally oriented and investor-friendly business destination has weakened. A destination may receive more visitors while simultaneously losing some of its attractiveness to premium investors, international event organisers, global hospitality brands and travellers seeking a predictable leisure environment.

Tourist volume is not the same as tourist value.

A family arriving for two nights on a discounted domestic package counts as much in the headline arrival statistics as an affluent international visitor staying for a week, dining in restaurants, attending events and spending heavily on recreation. Rising arrivals can therefore coexist with pressure on hotel yields, weaker average spending, shorter stays and uncertainty over future investment.

LADA reported that Langkawi generated approximately RM4.4 billion in tourism revenue from about 2.82 million visitors in 2023. Its 2024 target was three million visitors and RM5.9 billion in receipts. The gap between counting arrivals and securing high-value expenditure is consequently central to Langkawi’s future.

The island’s business reputation has been affected by several recurring controversies.

The first concerns policy predictability. Tourism investors consider long-term regulatory predictability. Investment decisions often depend not only on current policies, but also on confidence that operating conditions will remain stable over many years.

Debates over public attire, entertainment, concerts, and broader cultural regulations have periodically generated national discussion. Although Kedah authorities have repeatedly clarified that visitors remain welcome and are simply encouraged to respect local customs, recurring public debates have nevertheless created questions among some tourism stakeholders about long-term policy consistency.

Nevertheless, the very need for repeated clarification illustrates the perception problem.

International hotel operators, conference planners and event promoters need clear rules. They must know whether an event approved this year will remain acceptable next year. They cannot invest millions of ringgit on the assumption that political interpretations of entertainment, attire or hospitality will remain unchanged.

The issue is therefore not whether PAS has already prohibited every leisure activity. It is whether the political atmosphere creates uncertainty over the long-term direction of the destination.

The second problem is Langkawi’s ambiguous market identity.

Is it an international island resort comparable with Phuket, Bali or parts of southern Thailand? Is it mainly a domestic family destination? Is it an ecotourism centre, a Muslim-friendly resort, a duty-free shopping island or a location for luxury hospitality and international events?

There is nothing inherently wrong with Muslim-friendly tourism. It is a large and expanding market. But successful Muslim-friendly tourism requires better service, stronger branding, halal excellence, family-oriented attractions, cleanliness, connectivity and high-quality hospitality.

It cannot be built merely through warnings about what tourists should not do.

A destination becomes internationally competitive by creating experiences, not by generating anxiety.

The third problem concerns access and infrastructure. Langkawi stakeholders have repeatedly highlighted inconsistent ferry services, limited schedules and passenger discomfort on routes connecting the island with Kuala Kedah and Kuala Perlis. Business groups have also called for the restoration or strengthening of duty-free privileges, which formed a major part of Langkawi’s original commercial identity.

These weaknesses cannot be blamed solely on PAS. Langkawi is shaped by federal agencies, the Kedah government, LADA, transport operators, airlines, local authorities and private investors.

That is precisely the point. Successful tourism requires coordination rather than ideological confrontation. When federal and state leaders quarrel over responsibility, investors see fragmentation.

The sale of The Andaman resort assets for RM130 million in 2024 should also be interpreted cautiously. The resort had suffered a devastating fire and the company was under receivership. 

It would be misleading to present the transaction as proof that PAS alone destroyed hotel investment in Langkawi. Nevertheless, it demonstrates how large hospitality assets can become financially vulnerable when disasters, reconstruction costs, financing problems and an uncertain operating environment converge.

What, then, does this mean for Port Dickson?

Negeri Sembilan recorded approximately 460,000 foreign tourist arrivals in 2024, compared with 340,000 in 2023. The state subsequently targeted 20 million overall tourist arrivals for 2025, supported by 86 activities and events. Port Dickson is central to these ambitions because it is the state’s most recognisable coastal tourism district.

Major investments are also being planned. Lexis Hibiscus 2 was projected to attract as many as 1.1 million tourists annually, with foreign tourists expected to form a substantial part of its market. The development was also projected to generate thousands of jobs during its construction and operational phases.

Port Dickson therefore benefits from maintaining a clear and consistent tourism identity that gives investors and visitors long-term confidence.

It competes for weekend visitors from Kuala Lumpur and the Klang Valley, families, corporate retreats, international travellers, resort buyers, hotel investors and organisers of sporting, cultural and business events.

Unlike Langkawi, Port Dickson does not possess a powerful duty-free identity or the same degree of island exclusivity. Its advantage is accessibility. But accessibility also means visitors can easily choose Melaka, Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, Penang or destinations farther abroad.

If any future state government were perceived as introducing uncertainty over tourism, hospitality or investment policy, Port Dickson could face a reputational challenge similar to those observed in debates surrounding Langkawi.

Should PAS participate in a future coalition government, it would naturally be expected to reassure investors that regulatory certainty and commercial openness remain intact.

The more likely danger would be gradual reputational discounting.

Investors may postpone projects. Event organisers may select another state. Hotel groups may demand higher returns to compensate for regulatory risk. Some investors and event organisers may adopt a more cautious approach if they perceive uncertainty over future policy settings. 

Existing operators may become reluctant to renovate or expand.

Nothing has to be formally banned for economic damage to occur. Uncertainty itself has a price.

PAS would have every right to participate in a democratically elected government. But it would also bear the burden of proving that its religious principles can coexist with a plural society, international tourism, commercial freedom and predictable regulation.

Port Dickson should not become a laboratory for ideological experimentation.

The lesson from Langkawi is not that tourist arrivals inevitably collapse when PAS governs. The statistics do not support that conclusion.

The lesson is not that tourism necessarily declines under any particular administration. Rather, the more important question is whether a destination can sustain investor confidence, policy predictability and a clear international identity over the long term. Visitor numbers and investment confidence do not always move in tandem.

Negeri Sembilan voters must therefore ask not merely how many tourists may come to Port Dickson next year.

They must ask what kind of destination Port Dickson will become over the next ten or twenty years — and whether investors, hotel operators, event organisers and international travellers will still believe that they are welcome.

* Phar Kim Beng is a director at the Institute of International and Asean Studies International Islamic University of Malaysia.

** This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail.