KUALA LUMPUR, July 13 ― It is budget cuts and not the Islamic State (IS) that are hampering Malaysia's goal of attracting 30.5 million tourists this year, Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz said today.
Nazri said the millions in budget cuts had severely constrained his ministry's ability to market Malaysia as a tourism destination.
"At last I can focus on the real issue. The obstacle to reaching 30.5 million (tourists) is not IS," he told reporters here.
"From the aspect of advertising allocation since 1997, the government gave us RM300 million every year and this year they cut RM132 million for advertising allocations," he said, noting also the weaker ringgit and inflation over the years as well as pricier ad space.
"What can I do? I have to cancel a lot of roadshows, promotions, probably close some of our offices overseas. We can't afford it anymore," he said.
Nazri pointed out the importance of continued advertising, noting that well-known brands such as the companies behind fast food chain McDonald's and soft drink Coca-Cola keep up their marketing as it is a "necessity".
"The industry we are in, we are facing competition from neighbouring countries ― Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Philippines ― countries which are doing blitz advertising.
"So if we don't follow suit, we will be left behind. That's why for me, our problem is that our budget have been cut so much," he said.
Earlier, Nazri noted that tourist numbers in Thailand and France remained high despite terror attacks, believing that Malaysia would continue to see tourists coming in as the latter would not want to be seen as bowing to terrorism.
"We are quite resilient. To me, if it did not affect France and Thailand, it shouldn't affect us as a tourist destination," he said, also citing Malaysia's success since independence in combating terrorism when affirming the country's capability to ensure tourists' safety.
Malaysian police recently confirmed that the IS had successfully launched an attack here.
