Ng: Promote duty-free shopping in Malaysia

2009/11/18

By Sheila Sri Priya

KUALA LUMPUR: Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ng Yen Yen wants to attract more tourists to spend in Malaysia by promoting the country as a duty-free haven. "Many are not aware that branded cosmetics, computers, electronic items, sports equipment and luxury watches are duty-free in Malaysia.

"Currently, the term duty-free only reminds tourists and Malaysians of Langkawi and Labuan, as chocolates, liquor and cigarettes are sold at a lower price there,

"The well known cosmetic product, Clinique foundation is cheaper in Malaysia by RM50 compared with the same product in China. Tourists can get better bargains so they could spend more here instead," she said yesterday at the launch of the Malaysia Year End Sale (M-YES) 2009 which will be on until Jan 3 next year.

She said many traders in the country were also able to offer better deals to buyers.

Business operators could afford to lower their price further as the cost of living and rental of business premises in Malaysia was lower compared with countries like Singapore, she said.

Ng said Malaysia received 2,078,485 visitors last month compared with 1,818,304 in October last year.

For the first 10 months of this year, there were 19,456,525 visitor arrivals compared with 18,148,159 in the same period last year.

"This is a positive indication for the country's tourism industry as the United Nations World Tourism Organisation estimated a decline of seven per cent between January and August this year for international tourist arrivals worldwide.

"I'm positive we can hit the target of 20 million visitors this year."

In 2000, when the first Malaysian mega sale carnival was launched, shopping accounted for 23.1 per cent of tourist expenditure. But last year, it increased to 26.8 per cent.

The retail industry in the country provides jobs for almost 500,000 people.