Current State of Tourism in Malaysia - Essay Example

TOURISM SWOT ANALYSIS Introduction Tourism planning and development entails looking at different aspects of the destination to find out both external and internal factors that influence the industry (Haugland et al., 2011). One of the steps is the market search or economic analysis of the destination. By definition, SWOT analysis is the evaluation of possible strengths, weaknesses, opportunities within an economic market (Helms, & Nixon, 2010). The factors are very crucial in determining the success of a business. In the tourism industry for instance, there are many internal and external environmental factors that influence the planning and development of the attraction sites. On the other hand, the findings of SWOT analysis lay the basis for developing tourism development and improvement programs that may come from the government. Therefore, this essay seeks to present a SWOT analysis of Malaysia as a destination and present the findings to the relevant authorities to find the best way of developing the country’s thriving and lucrative industry. Malaysia boasts of many tourist attractions ranging from the modern cities to the rich biodiversity (Chong, 2014). Tourists can enjoy themselves in a clean and large modern cities. On the other hand, the country offers opportunities for hiking where tourists can enjoy natural trails in the tropical jungles rich with plants, insect life, and animals. Tourists can also sunbathe on countrys unique sand beaches or can as well scuba dive in Malaysias rich coral reefs (Wong, Velasamy, & Arshad, 2011). The implication is that Malaysia, apart from the big and clean cities, is also rich in biodiversity but the effects that conventional tourism activities leave on the environment requires a deeper understanding of how to integrate tourism planning with biodiversity conservation. Moreover, the country provides mountain climbing experiences where tourists can tower the Malaysian mountains rich with strawberries and enjoy the view of tea plantations (Chong, 2014). Most of the Malaysian mountains lay within the central parts of the country, and the agglomeration of the modern cities provide unique experiences for visitors. Therefore, this essay seeks to carry out a SWOT analysis of Malaysias tourism industry. Current state of tourism in Malaysia The government of Malaysia has put more effort to developing tourism in the country because it does not want the country to depend entirely on exports for economic growth. Thus, the government has initiated many projects with the aim of improving tourism sector to become a significant foreign exchange earner. The government, therefore, created the Tourism Malaysia as an agency that promotes and markets tourism activities in the country (Wong, Velasamy, & Arshad, 2011)). The primary vision of Tourism Malaysia is to ensure that tourism contributes to the social and economic development within the country. Therefore, the agency has opened 34 oversea offices and another 11 for tourism marketing purposes (Chong, 2014). Tourism contributes largely to the countrys economic development and explains why Malaysia recovered quickly from the economic recession. However, the tremendous growth has also faced challenges from the countrys developing industrial sector that pollutes water and air with enormous effects on ecological systems like coastal lines and the terrestrial ecosystem (Wong, Velasamy, & Arshad, 2011). Despite the challenges, new trends in the country’s tourism sector have revived opportunities in the industry and Malaysia now records a high number of visitors. One of the areas that attract many tourists in Malaysia is the unique health sector (Wong, Velasamy, & Arshad, 2011). Therefore, the country now records a high number of health tourists who flock Malaysia for medical and health tourism. Health tourism has attracted not only medical and clinical students, but also abled persons who can afford the high-quality health services in Malaysia. Upon realizing the potential benefits that health tourism bring in the form of foreign exchange, the Malaysian government has established plans for enhancing the country as a global medical and health tourism attraction. For instance, the government has made changes on the health sector and harmonized medical fees in a bid to attract many tourists (Chong, 2014). SWOT ANALYSIS Strengths One of the economic strengths of Malaysia is the characteristic of the population (Wong, Velasamy, & Arshad, 2011). Many of Malaysians speak English as an international language. In fact, the language barrier is one of the major obstacles to destination planning and management. However, the Malaysian education system makes it mandatory for the citizens to learn foreign languages. Therefore, many Malaysians are either bilingual or multi-lingual. In this case, planning a destination management program in for the country will benefit from the easy and effective communication with the Malaysians. On the other hand, Malaysians are sociable and friendly people who willingly offer help to confused or lost travellers. Another unique strength in Malaysia’s tourism industry is the high commitment by the government to promoting the country as a global tourist destination (Chong 2014). The government established the Tourism Malaysia as the board that promotes and markets the country. Nonetheless, the government, through the tourism board, has established close to 11 offices for marketing the country with another 34 offices for tourism related activities (Chong 2014). The other strength with Malaysia’s tourism industry is tremendous growth in the sector that ranks the country as some of the top tourist destination sites in the world. For instance, the country attracted close to 25 million tourists in the year 2011 (Wong, Velasamy, & Arshad, 2011). New tourism investments in Malaysia will obviously benefit from the fact that the sector is the second leading foreign exchange earner after manufacturing industry (Wong, Velasamy, & Arshad, 2011). The good attraction sites, and the countrys proper tourism management encourage high spending from tourists thus the sector is lucrative for investment. The economic condition and status of the country also presents a good opportunity for tourism growth and development. Malaysia is one of the newly industrialized countries. According to economists, newly developed or industrialized countries from benefit from the high Keynesian effect (Wong, Velasamy, & Arshad, 2011). The implication is that the characteristics enable Malaysia to retain most of the tourist dollars. On the other hand, the country has good and effective manufacturing industrial sector that support tourism investments and is useful in preventing Weaknesses Unfortunately, Malaysia has some weaknesses that can influence the growth of the tourism industry. Firstly, there are few direct flights between Europe and Malaysia (Wong, Velasamy, & Arshad, 2011). Many tourists travel through Singapore, that connects them to Kuala Lumpur International Airport. Therefore, the inadequate airport facilities have a negative effect on the accessibility of Malaysia. Nonetheless, the country is an Islamic nation that brings to the question on how religious and cultural beliefs influence the nature of tourist services and how they fulfill the needs as well as expectations of customers. Moreover, other important markets like North America and Europe have informed opinions about the dominant religion in Malaysia thus putting more obstacles to planning and development of the industry (Chong, 2014). Another weakness is the few nightclubs and inadequate nightlife owing to the prevailing Islamic culture in Malaysia (Chong, 2014). Most tourists enjoy nightlife and are the main reason as to why they consider travelling to other places. Finally, a major weakness is that the country gets its tourists from Singapore implying that Malaysia lacks a stable and available tourist market. According to Tourism Malaysia statistics, the country gets more tourists from Singapore. For instance, in 2011, an outstanding 13.3 travellers were from Singapore (Wong, Velasamy, & Arshad, 2011). Though a minor weakness, harassment by taxi drivers is also posing a challenge for Malaysias tourism industry. Many drivers complain about overcharging for services, and if left unchecked, it will have a profound effect on the countrys strong industry. Opportunities In an investment situation, opportunities are simply the market factors that favor the development of new products and services. In Malaysia for instance, the country has the opportunity to expand its influence and dominance in of the Chinese tourism market (Wong, Velasamy, & Arshad, 2011). China has a good GDP implying that the population has surplus to spend on luxury goods and services like tourism products. On the other hand, the increasing GDPs of Malaysia’s creates more room for people to engage in tourism activities. Therefore, the rapid growth of China as a potential market is an opportunity for the Malaysian government and investors to improve the country’s tourism sector. Moreover, Indonesia is also a promising case for Malaysia with its fast economic growth (Chong, 2014). It is a common trend for international tourists to explore the countries that neighbor them. In his case, Malaysian receives many travellers from Indonesia implying that the growth in the countrys economy is an opportunity for tourism growth and investment. Another opportunity for Malaysian tourism sector is the growth and development of its health and medical sector (Wong, Velasamy, & Arshad, 2011). Health tourism has become a common phenomenon in the contemporary world, and Malaysian is one of the countries with unique and modern health and medical services. The country has highly developed private health sector with modern therapeutic, diagnosis and inpatient facilities (Chong, 2014). Furthermore, the facilities have good staffing and equipment that translates to high level of safety, professionalism, and care. Besides, the private medical facilities have comfortable accommodation including private rooms that suites both single and double occupancy. The room charges include meals, and their pricing are attractive to most visitors. Furthermore, the government has also initiated plans for promoting health tourism like the establishment of around 35 private hospitals for promoting health tourism as one of the major attractions in Malaysia (Wong, Velasamy, & Arshad, 2011). Nonetheless, technology also provides opportunities for developing new tourism products like modern air travel services like onboard entertainment and Wi-Fi. Interestingly, Malaysian also can investment in new forms of tourism like eco-tourism (Chong, 2014). The country has the eco-tourism market opportunities owing to parks, jungles, coastlines, and pristine beaches. Moreover, the country’s ecosystem has a rich diversity in beauty or sceneries and biodiversity. Therefore, there is an opportunity to divert from conventional tourism to niche markets like eco-tourism as with the case with other countries like Costa Rica. Threats There are some threats that may affect Malaysia’s tourism sector in the future. One of the threats in tourism is the dynamic nature of competition (Chong, 2014). There are many players and investors in the tourism sector that translates to volatility in competition. On the other hand, tourism is becoming dependent on technology, and this has totally changed the nature of competition in the sector. For instance, the international travel industry is highly competitive with strong competition from China, Hong Kong, and Japan (Wong, Velasamy, & Arshad, 2011). Competitors are entering the international market with better products and services. A good example is Australia with its dominance in air travel and tourism products. Though seemingly a small factor, militant insurgencies in Asia and its environs also poses a threat to tourism activities in the region. The presence of Al-Qaida and other allied groups may hurt tourism in the Asian country (Chong, 2014). Another eminent threat stems from the fact that the country is developed with a fast growing manufacturing industry (Chong, 2014). The growth in manufacturing sector implies that the country is putting up more resorts, marinas, roads, golf courses and highways without considering their residual effect on the ecosystems. Building up of physical structures destroys the ecosystem that acts as natural habitats for wildlife (Haugland et al., 2011). Therefore, the country still lags behind in embracing sustainable tourism development. The tourism planners and developers thus have the obligation of ensuring that the Malaysias tourism sectors survive so as to meet the needs and expectations of the countrys future generation. Summary In summary, the SWOT analysis outlines some of the major internal and external factors that may affect the development and growth of tourism in Malaysia. The country has good attractions ranging from the beautiful sceneries to rich biodiversity (Chong et al., 2014). However, Malaysian government has diverted its attention to health tourism that is a huge potential for a country with best medical care facilities. Moreover, there is an opportunity for ecotourism as a new form of tourism implying that Malaysia can divert to niche tourism. On the contrary, Malaysia faces market control change as many tourists enter the country through Singapore. The country also suffers from stiff competition in the global tourism market does not match standards of strong players like Singapore, Hong Kong and Japan. Besides, the country’s economic structure that depends on manufacturing poses the threat of ecosystem distraction that may impact on the sustainability of tourism activities. Recommended strategies for Malaysian tourism planning and development Since the country’s tourism industry is strong and ranks high globally, there is a need to develop sound strategies will enable Malaysia to maintain its dominance in the market. One of the strategies should be to ensure that growth and development of tourism activities are sustainable in nature (Haugland et al., 2011). Tourism depends entirely on its ability to meet the needs of the current generation, as well as those of the future generation. A perfect approach should be to develop the niche tourism opportunities like ecotourism to protect both the environment and biodiversity. On the other hand, marketing strategies should focus on major strengths like health tourism because such opportunities are unique to Malaysia. Conclusion In summary, a SWOT analysis of Malaysia’s tourism industry presents some of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats affecting the sector. However, the country’s strong high global ranking provides the government with the opportunity to build on the success and develop Malaysia into a global tourist destination of choice. Though there is stiff competition in the international tourism industry, the country can shift its focus to its major strengths like health and niche tourism or ecotourism. The implication of this SWOT analysis is that Malaysias strength and opportunities compel tourism planners and developers must ensure that the country’s industry grows in a sustainable manner. On the other hand, the planners and developers must look for alternatives to overcome weaknesses and threats facing the strong and promising industry. References Chong, K. L. (2014). Cruise tourism in Malaysia: A SWOT analysis. Theory and Practice in Hospitality and Tourism Research, 189(1), 23-32. Haugland, S. A., Ness, H., Grønseth, B. O., & Aarstad, J. (2011). Development of tourism destinations: an integrated multilevel perspective. Annals of Tourism Research, 38(1), 268-290. Helms, M. M., & Nixon, J. (2010). Exploring SWOT analysis–where are we now?: A review of academic research from the last decade. Journal of Strategy and Management, 3(3), 215-251. Wong, K. M., Velasamy, P., & Arshad, T. N. T. (2014). Medical Tourism Destination SWOT Analysis: A Case Study of Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore and India. In SHS Web of Conferences, 12, 01037-01045. Read More