HOW many of you have tried the mee rebus at Plaza Damas in Kuala Lumpur? Or the thosai and masala tea at Sri Pandi in Brickfields? What about the nasi kandar at Brahimsyah along Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman?
I know many people make a weekly or twice weekly visit to the nasi ayam restaurant in Bukit Bintang, just a stone’s throw from Federal Hotel. Ask anyone there, and they will show you the shop.
Every one of us has our own private list of food outlets. Penang’s Line Clear still a favourite? What about Temerloh’s patin at the food court? Or yong tau foo at Wisma FAM?
These are household names in many people’s food directory, a must-go place if you are a foodie, that is, a person who loves his or her food. Every foodie has a list that is shared with friends. They become the group’s hideout or venue for their weekly chats or monthly gathering.
It’s the same with foodies in other parts of the country as well. It’s a part of life. If you don’t have a list, don’t worry. There are many independent news and video portals which travel the length and breadth of the country to compile these food joints and share them on social media.
They function very much like an independent food tourism agency! Perhaps these indie portals can be engaged by the Tourism, Arts and Culture Ministry to help in next year’s Visit Malaysia Year campaign.
Does everyone know that next year is Visit Malaysia Year 2020? The first VMY was in 1990, which caught the imagination of many people in and outside the country.
This was followed by VMY 1994, 2014 and 2017. I thought they were too close to each other. If I recall correctly, VMYs were supposed to be activated every 10 years to make them meaningful and significant. When they are too close, they lose their shine and become ordinary.
There was plenty of excitement for VMY 1990. In fact, some individuals led by Datuk Nadzim Johan formed Kelab Cinta Malaysia to help promote the year-long initiative. (Nadzim is now a consumer activist with the Muslim Consumers Association).
Members of KCM served as volunteers to act as tourist guides and information disseminators. They responded to queries from local and foreign tourists and helped to make the campaign a success.
Tourism is a year-round business and needs frequent and regular promotions. It’s about branding, product awareness, visibility. It’s all of the above. If we stop promoting, then expect fewer tourist arrivals.
The plan is to attract about 36 million tourists by 2020, giving us a revenue of almost RM170 billion. Will we be depending on the tagline “Malaysia Truly Asia” and the other one liner “To Know Malaysia is to Love Malaysia”?
When this tagline was first introduced, it triggered quite an excitement.
And it went well with the other one. The question I often hear now is — will there be a new tagline? Is this tagline still able to attract the big spenders?
Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Datuk Mohamaddin Ketapi and his team must give serious thought to this. Honestly, we haven’t heard much from the minister and his team. To be fair, the senior people in the ministry should be able to stir some excitement pending the launch of VMY 2020. Right?
Getting the VMY 2020 logo is just one small effort. How many of us have seen, and remember, the logo? Is that the best we can do? Is that the sum total of our creativity? We must be bold, creative and exciting. Be outrageous if we have to!
Somehow, I get the feeling that we have not done much, or enough, in promoting VMY 2020. Is there any sustainable promotion overseas? China? Japan? Europe? Our Asean neighbours?
If you look at the various social media platforms, there are endless tourism promotion advertisements or campaigns. I mean promotions of other countries as a favourite destination. India with the tagline Incredible India and Amazing Thailand are two of the ones I remember most. There’s also Wonderful Indonesia while the Phillippines carries the tagline “It’s more fun in the Phillippines”. Singapore has “Passion made Possible”, but I’m not excited by it.
Taglines are taglines, okay? Some are old. They are so dated, and look and feel tired. Taglines alone won’t bring it the tourists with the deep pockets.
What is important are the tourism products and the hospitality of the host country. Do we smile enough? Say thank you? Have clean toilets? Are our taxi drivers polite and helpful? Do we make our guests feel welcomed? The dirty toilets is a big downer really. It’s a shame.
I believe, given the right approach, we can all say Thank you and smile more. And we always hear foreign tourists praising our country. They love the mix, spontaneity, food, and the tolerance.
The writer is a former NST group editor