Promoting Malaysia’s tourism industry both locally and internationally is the best way to tackle the depreciation of the ringgit, Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz has said.
The tourism minister said tourism would be the best way to create a market for the cheaper ringgit currency, and that visitors from regional countries were now “coming in droves” to visit Malaysia.
“When money depreciates we have to create a market for our ringgit, and what better way to do this than to promote tourism?
“We must spend more money to promote tourism,” Nazri told Malay Mail Online in a recent interview.
“Take our neighbours in Singapore for example, they are just a stone’s throw away… they know since the ringgit has depreciated Malaysia is the place to go,” Nazri said.
The minister pointed out that Malaysia is still ranked number four in the world as a shopping destination and with the decline of the ringgit, is an ideal travel destination for those would wanted to buy things cheaply.
“There’s even a package in Hong Kong for the durian season… where tourists can come on Friday, go back on Sunday,” the Padang Rengas MP added.
Long loved by many in its native Southeast Asia, a growing appetite for the pungent “king of fruits” has developed in East Asia and Malaysia is feeding the demand with custom tour packages for foreign visitors to taste durians freshly harvested in the orchards during its twice-yearly fruiting season.
Nazri also slammed Barisan Nasional (BN) leaders who have been critical at him for assisting opposition-controlled states Penang and Selangor’s tourism industry, saying that it was his job as federal tourism minister to do so.
“Every year my ministry is evaluated from statistics on receipts and arrivals. If I ignore Selangor, Penang and even Kelantan you think that will help my [annual targets]?
“Only stupid people in Barisan Nasional will not find justification in my being friendly towards states governed by opposition parties,” he said,
“Important tourist states like Penang and Selangor...mad to say I’m not going to work with them,” Nazri explained.
Weak prices for commodities, a key export for Malaysia, have hurt market sentiment and the ringgit.
Concerns over state investment company 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), which has been dogged by controversy over its RM42 billion debt pile and alleged financial mismanagement, have also undermined the currency.
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