Visit Malaysia NOW

This is already a little old but I have been wanting to write this.

I would like all tourists who still feel Malaysia is cheap, exotic and a nice place, to come and visit it now.

Quite some time back, friends of mine from Europe were surprised and how nice and cheap out hotels here were and they visited Malaysia twice.

But have no fear, our Minister of Tourism has a cure for this illness.

This illness of tourists finding Malaysia cheap and visiting over and over again must be stopped at once she said.

As such, on January 9, hoteliers were urged to review their room rates to more appropriate levels by Tourism Minister Dr Ng Yen Yen.

According to the news report, she said she had heard from some foreign tourists that they were shocked to see hotels with good service and facilities charging low rates.

“An interesting thing is that when tourists who want to visit our country look at the competitive hotel prices, they will think that the services cannot be that good,” she said in calling on the hotel industry to reconsider its pricing.

“We must not undervalue ourselves,” she told reporters after a Tourism Malaysia meeting with 13 state directors yesterday.

She said hotel operators could perhaps have international and local room rates.
Malaysians could get certain discounts by showing their MyKad, Dr Ng said.

She added that as long as hotels maintained their service, customers would keep coming back.

She said the ministry had no right to decide on hotel room rates, but it would write to the Malaysian Association of Hotels and other industry players on the matter.

Yet again, an out of box thinking by our wonderful and intelligent minister of tourism.

Let's raise our hotel rates so that tourists do not feel we are too cheap yah.

Maybe it is time for some of our other wonderful services to raise rates as well ... like have local and tourists price for taxi's, for restaurants, for GRO's, for karaoke rooms, for massages in our "wonderful" sauna's that always offer extra services etc etc.

We don't want those foreigners to think we are too cheap.

Sigh! This is one of the reasons I hated Egypt, the different rates for foreigners for each and everything including buying a bottle of water.

I told wifey at that time I fear that Malaysia is going in this direction.

I was hoping later when I am dead but with suggestions like above and the different petrol prices for foreigners including tourists who may rent cars, I fear it may come by sooner than later.

As such, Visit Malaysia NOW, and you have WON.

Take care and be well.