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THE findings of the 2022 Domestic Tourism Survey have flustered tourism leaders in Penang as they refused to accept their much-loved state was not among the top five with the greatest number of domestic visitors in the country.
The Statistics Department (DoSM) had placed Selangor on top with 22 million visitors, followed by the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur (16.9 million), Sarawak (15.5 million), Perak (14.6 million), and Pahang (13.2 million).
According to a report with the heading “Penang still a top draw with tourists”, Association of Tourist Attractions Penang (Atap) chairman Ch’ng Huck Theng questioned the methodology used in the survey, saying many people chose Penang because of its food, pleasant weather and people, apart from its sandy beaches and lush greenery.
He said, “The methodology and the adequacy of the sample size are questionable, and other top destinations like Kota Kinabalu, Melaka and Pulau Langkawi also did not get their states into the top five.”
“We have done superbly well until the first quarter of this year. We, in the industry, especially Atap members, know this well because we are owners of tourist attractions. We are also rich in arts, culture and heritage, with our George Town Unesco World Heritage Site and Penang Hill Biosphere Reserve being internationally acclaimed.”
He added, “These are the strengths we have built over the years through the government, people, associations and institutions. I would say Penang is the best place in Malaysia to visit, invest, study and do medical tourism.”
Penang Tourist Guide Association chairman Clement Liang viewed the survey might not truly reflect the actual scenario, adding that there was no way to actually track domestic visitors in the country. He pointed out that in Penang, group tours from schools or corporations were the ones that needed the services of tour guides to coordinate their programmes.
He said, “The definition of a domestic visitor is too wide. It can be visiting friends, staying in hospitals, attending meetings or returning to one’s hometown. This may not truly reflect the visitors’ activities. Penang and Melaka are always on the list of preferred destinations due to their Unesco World Heritage Site status.”
Malaysian Association of Hotels (MAH) Penang chapter chairman Tony Goh disclosed that after borders reopened in April last year, hotels in Penang have been generally happy with their performance and said, “In total, MAH hotels alone have 16,000 room inventories and those in Penang are achieving between 60% and 80% occupancy rates on weekends.”
Why the discrepancy?
All told, it appears that what was stated in the Domestic Tourism Survey does not truly reflect the reality on the ground, as no one is disputing the popularity of Penang, and more so with the disclosures from the above personalities who have their fingers on the pulse of their industries.
However, it must be noted that the 2022 Domestic Tourism Survey was not a one-off exercise but had been carried out since 2008 using universal terms that are recognised globally and the methodology honed over the years.
Moreover, DoSM conducts hundreds of surveys each year using scientific methods with a high degree of accuracy and provides consultancy services on statistical methods to conduct surveys such as frame, sampling and questionnaire design, field operation, processing, and data analysis.
But those who have yet to grasp tourism terms would not be able to understand some official facts and figures. Also, those in various tourism sectors should not view data meant for the overall tourism industry and the general public only through their own lenses.
What is tourism?
Tourism could mean different things to different people. While academics and students may discuss theories, tour operators must look at tourism as a gargantuan business with the major sectors being shopping, accommodation, food and beverage, public transport and entertainment.
And tours represent only a minuscule part in the overall scheme of things. Even when outbound, inbound and domestic tours were combined, they constituted less than 2% of the overall RM240.2 billion recorded in 2019 for all tourism businesses in our country.
And anyone with the means can travel freely in the country with most people using their own vehicles and spending a huge sum on automotive fuel, which was the third-highest expenditure of domestic visitors in 2022. In 2019, fuel was the second highest.
And activities are not confined to sightseeing. Last year, the top five main purposes of trips were listed as visiting friends and relatives (33.7%), shopping (29.9%), holidays or leisure or relaxation (16.4%), incentive travel or others (8.9%), and medical treatment or wellness (5%).
Not understanding tourism terms
Also, it is imperative for industry players to understand the fundamentals, including basic tourism terms such as visitors, tourists, and excursionists. If not, they could easily misunderstand official reports and dispute their findings.
I have conducted training for thousands of travel and tour operators and many of them too were licensed tourist guides, and also lecturers with PhD in tourism, trainers in Training-Of-Trainers, and travel industry leaders.
Very few could explain well the definitions of “tourists” and “visitors” even if they make online searches. Academic definitions are taught and learned by students but are not useful for industry players. After asking training participants to give their definitions, I will then offer mine.
Sharing my definitions
In the simplest and clearest definition, a tourist is someone who stays overnight away from home, regardless of distance or accommodation. It can be in the same or a different town, city, state or country, and the stay could either be paid accommodation or with relatives or friends.
An excursionist is someone making a day trip and returning home the same day and again, regardless of distance. Someone who flies to Kota Kinabalu or Bangkok from Kuala Lumpur and returns the same day is not a tourist in Sabah or Thailand, but an excursionist.
Obviously, accommodation providers are more interested in tourists whereas restaurant operators will be targeting both tourists and excursionists to have lunch or dinner at their establishments, and retail outlets welcome all visitors.
Hence, visitors could either be tourists or excursionists, but they can also be both at different times on the same day. A foreign visitor staying in Kuala Lumpur on a day trip to Melaka for sightseeing is a tourist in the former and an excursionist in the latter.
Arrivals and trips
Incidentally, not all passengers travelling from Singapore to Malaysia for holidays are counted as Singaporean tourists but according to their nationality. Therefore, a large number of visiting expats working in the region are added to the headcounts of the citizens from their countries.
And millions of foreigners that visited Malaysia did not stay overnight in our country. For example, there were 8.9 million foreign excursionists in 2019, and 26.1 million foreign tourists. Combined, we had 35 million foreign visitors that year.
However, the figures recorded were based on arrivals. Singaporeans and Bruneians that could enter Malaysia overland with some of them several times a week or month were counted each time. Their number of tourists, excluding excursionists, was much higher than the respective population of these countries in 2019 and earlier.
Similarly, the number of domestic visitors in 2019 was 239.1 million, far exceeding the 32.8 million population that included more than three million non-citizens. Likewise, many domestic visitors made multiple journeys, resulting in a total of 332.4 million domestic trips.
Cruise passengers may be highly visible during shore excursions by their sheer numbers, but they spend relatively little within the few hours of setting foot on land, as almost everything is available on board the ship, which is a floating hotel or even a self-contained mini city.
However, all visitors should be welcomed, regardless of their spending power, as not only they could spread through word of mouth but also use social media that could easily go viral. Schoolchildren and backpackers that are treated well could return one day as big-time investors.
Not understanding who are domestic visitors
Likewise, domestic visitors should not be discounted, be they on interstate or intrastate travel, as both could spend money on shopping, food and beverage, transportation, accommodation, entertainment, or in the households visited, thereby contributing to the local economy.
And the reason why many tourism industry players, especially those in Peninsular Malaysia, could not accept the fact that Penang and Melaka are not among the top five states for domestic visitors is that they have wrongly assumed domestic visitors must come from other states.
In fact, Penang was never among the top five states over the years, except for 2021 when tourism was at its lowest ebb and does not reflect normal times. But Sarawak and Sabah were always among the top five, except for Sarawak in 2020 and Sabah in 2021 and 2022.
While it is true that not many Malaysians from Peninsular Malaysia could afford to visit Sabah and Sarawak because of high airfares, Sabahans and Sarawakians travelling within their own state are also counted as domestic visitors and contributed to their large numbers.
Similarly in the Klang Valley, those living in Port Klang travelling to Kuala Lumpur for shopping or vice versa for seafood dining are also counted as domestic visitors, as these are popular activities, making them the major tourism sectors.
In contrast, travel packages, sightseeing and tour guiding services are just tiny segments of domestic tourism. – The Vibes, July 3, 2023
YS Chan is a master trainer for Mesra Malaysia, travel and tours enhancement courses, as well as Asean tourism. He is also a tourism and transport business consultant
