Malaysian Tourism Ministry bears deep hope in China-ASEAN FTA

By Xiong Ping and Li Xueqing

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec. 25 -- The Malaysian Tourism Ministry firmly believes that the full implementation of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Agreement (FTA) will benefit friends from China and ASEAN.

Malaysian Tourism Minister Ng Yen Yen told Xinhua here recently that she bore great expectations of the future and prospects of the free trade area.

Ng said that in the world of globalization, market liberalization had become inevitable and therefore the Malaysian government had embarked on the relaxation of regulations.

When tariffs of goods and services were eliminated or reduced, the values of business activities would also rise, bringing benefits to various parties and stakeholders, said Ng.

Reiterating on the liberalization measures the Malaysian government announced, Ng encouraged hotel and tour operators from China to set up operations in Malaysia.

She said that foreign investors are now allowed to fully own hotels of four-star and above in Malaysia following the relaxation of regulations in the country.

China tourism operators could understand tourists from China well, she said, believing they could render better services to tourists from China.

Admitting that there was not many hotels or tour operators from China setting up operations in Malaysia, Ng said that the investors did show great interest in the Malaysian markets.

When asked about the strength of Malaysia's tourism industry, Ng said Malaysia has many citizens of Chinese origins who can speak Mandarin and Chinese dialects.

This made tourists from China feel themselves at home, Ng said, while stressing there were rich and well-diverse cultural elements in the Malaysian society for the foreigners to explore.

Ng pointed out that tourists from China were impressed with the lush greenery in Malaysia but this was not only the selling point of Malaysia as there were islands and beaches awaiting their explorations.

On the other hand, Ng highlighted that Malaysia would also rollout travel packages jointly with other countries in order to give foreigners a better experience of the region.

For example, Ng said Malaysia and Indonesia had jointly designed a "heritage tour package" that would bring tourists to George Town in the Penang State and Malacca in Malaysia, as well as the Borobudur monument in Indonesia.

All the three sites were declared the World Heritage by the United Nations, added Ng.

In order to strengthen cooperation among ASEAN member countries, Ng said the ASEAN Tourism Ministerial Meeting will be held in Brunei in 2010, allowing participating ministers to find ways to promote regional tourism.

When asked if the China-ASEAN FTA would weaken the shopping paradise status of Malaysia, Ng stressed that only products and services originated from China or ASEAN member countries were eligible to enjoy the tariff elimination.

Ng noted that many branded products such as perfumes, wallets, watches and sunglasses in Malaysia were actually from other countries such as France and Spain.

Some products like branded watches and pens might not be duty-free in other countries, but Malaysia granted them the duty-free status, said the minister.