GEORGE TOWN – Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing has mooted the establishment of a special commercial bank to drive the recovery of tourism after many stakeholders were hit with a credit crunch as traditional banking institutions refused to refinance their enterprises.
Following the drastic impact of Covid-19 on the leisure industry, the tourism, culture and arts minster said, the credit rating among travel trade players went down a notch.
“Banks have classified them as high-risks and are reluctant to support their efforts to restart their businesses,” he said.
“This is unsettling, especially when the country needs all forms of attractions to bring back the tourists and the edge in foreign currency earnings,” said Tiong.
Therefore, under the unity government, Tiong will pursue the prospects of establishing the tourism industry’s own bank.
It will help underwrite expansionary efforts and help service debts better.
In view of the hardships faced by the travel trade industry, Tiong said having their own tourism bank, which is not heavily regulated by Bank Negara, may just be the right tonic.
He added that the proposed Visit Malaysia Year 2025 campaign is now pushed back to 2026 to enable the industry players to be better prepared to face the onslaught of tourists.
Also, Tiong revealed that he plans to work with all states to ensure that the majority of the traditional villages in rural areas become homestay attractions for foreign tourists.
“If there are such villages, let the ministry know so they can compile the data and we can work towards turning it into homestay attractions,” he said during a recent visit to Penang.
Tiong does not want upgraded villages, as they would mostly just be concrete blocks.
What he espouses is the authentic traditional villages with wooden foundations, if that is applicable and proper, as that is a sure-fire attraction for foreigners.
He was in Penang to present RM25 million each to both Penang and Melaka to aid both states in conserving and preserving their joint Unesco listing as a Unesco World Heritage Site.
The allocation is part of the ministry’s efforts to motivate the states to nurture the efforts to conserve and preserve heritage assets at both sites.
Tiong also said that he will award another RM5 million to Melaka to aid the state in organising Visit Melaka Year 2024, especially in promotional and marketing efforts.
Tiong added that the ministry is committed to luring China nationals to Malaysia, saying that the potential is tremendous as there are 40 million wealthy people there compared to the entire population of Malaysia, which is about 33 million only. – The Vibes, August 4, 2023
