Masidi: Sabah's tourism players may have to amalgamate to survive 

By Rebecca Chong
Pictures by Oliver Majaham

The Minister of Tourism, Culture and Environment, Datuk Masidi Manjun said that the tourism industry in Sabah needs to step up its efforts to be ready for the challenges ahead.

Speaking at the Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents (MATTA) annual dinner on the 10th of November 2012, Masidi said that as Malaysia is a member of the international community, we have to liberalize our market including the service sector in line with various international agreements.

One of the results of liberalisation may be that we will have to allow 100% foreign owned travel agencies to operate anywhere in Sabah.

The Chairman of MATTA Sabah Chapter, Tan Kok Liang expressed reservations about the local players' readiness to  compete with the  foreign tour agencies.

"Tourism is about community and sustainable growth. In Sabah our tourism products are fragile and we have limited carrying capacity. Some of us are small enterprises. So are we ready to compete? " Tan asked.

He pointed out that there is already a  foreign travel agency from China operating in Sabah, having obtained their license last month.

Tan also said  that MATTA Sabah, along with Sabah Hotel Association (SHA), Sabah Tourist Association (STA) and Sabah Tourist Guide Association (STGA) are not happy about foreign travel agencies being allowed to operate locally. They have sent a memorandum to this effect to the Tourism Ministry.

The memorandum requests the Ministry to apply more stringent qualifying conditions and criteria to the foreign travel companies who want to set up their business in Sabah.

Tan further explains that before allowing any foreign travel agencies to operate in Sabah, the government should consider such matters as their financial commitment, dividend policy, how much they are going to invest, and the repatriation of their earnings to their respective countries (as opposed to reinvesting some of it in Sabah).

"This memorandum is to ensure that the Malaysian interest is protected." Tan added. A meeting to thrash out matters in connection with the memorandum will be hold soon.

In response to the worries in the tourism industry, Masidi said in order for the players in Sabah to compete with the foreign players, we must be as big as they are.

"By working and operating in small units like what Sabah is doing now, we may not be able to compete with the bigger boys in the future."

He said that we should take a page from the the amalgamation of banks in the financial industry. He believed that this should be looked at as a guide.

" Perhaps we need to think of the possibility that one day, the small local travel agencies would have no choice but to amalgamate into bigger companies so that they can compete with any tourism company in the world" Masidi said.

Masidi also stated that the Ministry will look into the memorandum sent by MATTA, SHA, STA and STGA, but eventually the sheer force of liberalisation would be unstoppable. "There is such a thing as reciprocity. If we want to be able to send our people to operate travel agencies overseas, the other countries would want to be able to send their people here too."

However, Masidi pointed out that he agreed with MATTA on the need to nurture our local travel agencies and tour guides. "We must train our people to speak their languages. This way, the tourists will not have any reason not to choose our guides" he added.

He also said that the local authorities should look into the matter of the cleanliness of the city. "It is not easy but not impossible either. We must have the courage to admit that we have much room for improvement."

"You avoid drowning by learning to swim, not by avoiding the river or the sea," he told the tour operators. "We must strive to be good not only locally, but also globally, and do so for as long as we can." -Insight Sabah