visit malaysia 1990

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‘Visit Malaysia Year’ Sees Tourism Boost

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KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Malaysia started taking tourism seriously only three years ago, but learned fast.

One million foreign visitors arrived in the first three months of 1990, designated Visit Malaysia Year, more than double the same period of 1989.

That doesn’t count 2 million people who dropped in from Singapore, the prosperous city-state next door.

The numbers may not be large compared to renowned vacation spots, but are impressive for a place that almost had to be coaxed into putting out the welcome mat.

“For a long time, there was no political will to develop the industry,” said Sabbaruddin Chik, culture and tourism minister.

Malaysia remained aloof for years while its neighbors wooed frees-pending foreigners. It is comfortably cushioned by an array of resources and is developing manufacturing to supplement exports of natural rubber, palm oil, cocoa, pepper, tropical hardwoods, tin, petroleum and natural gas.

Tourism’s status as a major international industry finally prompted the government to create a Ministry of Tourism and Culture in 1987.

Chauvinists immediately demanded the names be reversed to give culture precedence over selling the country to foreigners for profit, something that might be tolerated but not particularly liked. They prevailed.

A speaker told a forum in January the Visit Malaysia Year campaign is “making a mockery of Malaysian society,” something for which the people are not socially prepared.

Minister Sabbaruddin’s response to that: “If you wait until everything is ready before you promote tourism, we will never, ever be ready.”

Promoters try to reconcile their goals with the conservative habits of a country that has Islam as its official religion.

While the culture has no tradition of tourism, it does put a premium on hospitality. Both social dictates and Islam enjoin Malaysians to treat guests better than themselves.

There are limits, however. Without consulting Sabbaruddin, the Culture Division of his ministry banned a Valentine’s Day performance by pop singer LaToya Jackson, elder sister of Michael Jackson.

She posed semi-nude for Playboy magazine last year, Kuala Lumpur newspapers reported, and an official said her presence was “against the values and norms of the local culture.”

Visit Malaysia Year, launched with much hoopla in 1988, was designed to attract foreigners and get them to stay longer, foster the arts and culture and encourage locals to see Malaysia first before they venture abroad.

Appointed mascot was Wira the orangutan, representing an endangered species of ape found only in Borneo and Sumatra. Independence Day, Aug. 31, is the anchor for 84 major events, 14 festivals and nine exhibitions.

Malaysia offers distinctive Malay, Chinese and Indian cultures along with the architectural heritage of its Portuguese, Dutch and British colonizers.

There are unspoiled jungles, spectacular coral, clean beaches and hill resorts above the tropical heat. One resort has a casino.

Sightseers can watch rubber trees being tapped and monkeys helping harvest coconuts from tall palms. In Borneo, they can spend the night in the longhouses of former headhunters.

The official target for the year is more than 4.2 million tourists and earnings of $926 million, compared to 3.9 million people and $741 million last year. Malaysia was fourth in the region in 1989 after Hong Kong, Thailand and Singapore.

Before the campaign began, tourism promoters worried that Malaysia had no readily identifiable image abroad, except perhaps as the country that had sentenced 250 people to death for drug trafficking since 1975 and hanged 84 so far.

Officials were not amused when comedian Steve Martin, an announcer on the Academy Awards telecast in March, told an international live audience:

“We would have liked to have gone ‘live’ from Malaysia, but the TV crew got hung at the airport.”

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History of Visit Malaysia Year

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People, Language, Culture

Visit Malaysia Year (VMY) was first launched in 1990 with the theme “Fascinating Malaysia. Year of Festivals”. The campaign was a huge success with Malaysia charting 7.4 million in tourist arrivals compared to 4.8 million in 1989. To enable tourists to easily recognize Malaysia, the “Orang Utan, the endangered species found in East Malaysia was used as a mascot and it was named “Wira”. Apart from it, Kuala Lumpur’s famous landmark, Sultan Abdul Samad building was featured as the official Visit Malaysia Year 1990 logo. Malaysia Independence Day in August 31 was the anchor for 84 major events, 14 festivals and nine exhibitions during VMY 1990. Who could ever forget the song “To know Malaysia is to love Malaysia” during VMY 1990?

The success of VMY 1990 has spurred another VMY in 1994. This time around, the theme was “Fascinating Malaysia. Naturally More”. VMY 1994 maintained its words “Fascinating Malaysia” for the theme but injected a punch line “Naturally More” to reflect more exciting things and events lined up for that year. “Orang Utan” was once again used as the mascot.

The third VMY was launched in 2007 in conjunction with Malaysia’s 50th Independence Anniversary. Hence, the theme “Celebrating 50 years of Nationhood” was most befitting to reflect this important anniversary celebration. Efforts were also intensified in all advertising and promotional activities, including the call for action “The time is now. The place is Malaysia” together with its successful and impactful slogan “Malaysia Truly Asia. In line with the 50th Independence Anniversary, over 200 events across the country with 50 major events were held to showcase Malaysia’s wealth of tourism attractions. All in all, VMY 2007 charted a tremendous success beyond expectations with 20.97 million in tourist arrivals and RM46.1 billion in tourist receipts. This means a rise of 3.42 million and RM9.8 billion from the previous year.

In 2014, Malaysia will celebrate its fourth Visit Malaysia Year with the theme “Celebrating 1Malaysia Truly Asia” to reflect the diversity in unity of all Malaysians. The Proboscis Monkey has been chosen as the mascot while the promotional campaign has started in 2013 with a series of year-long special events and activities leading to VMY 2014. This time around, VMY 2014 will be the biggest and grandest ever tourism celebration with hundreds of events and festivals all lined up to welcome the world. Overall, it is hoped that VMY 2014 will contribute to the Government’s target to receive 36 million tourist arrivals and RM168 billion in receipts by 2020, as outlined in the Malaysia Tourism Transformation Plan (MTTP) 2020.