Hon. Datuk Seri Panglima Masidi Manjun, State Minister of Local Government and Housing & State Minister of Finance ll, Sabah

Datuk Hajah Saraya Arbi Secretary General of Tourism, Arts and Culture of Malaysia

Hon. Jafry Ariffin, Minister of Tourism, Culture and Environment, Sabah

Datuk Mohd Zamri Mat Zain, Deputy Secretary General, Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture, Malaysia

Distinguished Guests, Prominent Speakers

Dear Friends, Ladies and Gentlemen. Good morning!

It’s truly a pleasure for me to be here this morning on the occasion of the 2022 version of the iconic World Tourism Conference, which the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture of Malaysia is organising jointly with the World Tourism Organization.

First and foremost, I wish to thank the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture of Malaysia and the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Environment of Sabah for the excellent preparations and arrangements that have been made for this Conference.

I equally appreciate the very warm Malaysian hospitality we’ve enjoyed since we arrived a couple of days ago.

This year’s conference is very significant for Sabah because Kota Kinabalu is playing host for the 2nd time after 12 years; and undoubtedly, it is a clear  testament to its fame as a major tourist destination and a gateway for travellers visiting Sabah and Borneo.

Kota Kinabalu is also one of the most attractive and popular destinations not just in Malaysia but in the Asia-Pacific region as a whole.

When I came here in 2010 for the 1st time when Kota Kinabalu hosted the 2nd edition of the World Tourism Conference, I was so impressed by its natural wonder and its unique culture and beauty with stunning tourism facilities that I made it a point to recommend it to many friends in Asia including my fellow countrymen of Korea, because I saw it as a very ideal destination to visit with one’s family and friends.

And I’m happy to report that many of them have taken me at my word, and have come to experience the beauty of Kota Kinabalu. 

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Let’s now turn our attention to the purpose of our meeting here. We can’t deny the fact that the past 2 years have been the most difficult in the recent past for global tourism because of COVID-19.

But thankfully, some of the challenges it brought in its trail, including the closure of borders of destinations the world over, are now history.

According to the latest data of UNWTO’s tourism barometer, the major source markets mainly from Europe and America have started to open in the aftermath of the pandemic with most travel restrictions being lifted.

And this is generating a continuous increase in the number of international tourists worldwide.

As a matter of fact, international tourist arrivals in the first 9 months of 2022 were more than double than in the same months of 2021. In other words, our sector has recovered 63% of pre-pandemic levels and is on track to reach around 65% by the end of the year.

We are therefore quite optimistic about a solid and steady recovery of our tourism sector in the immediate future.

My colleague Javier Ruescas – UNWTO’s Senior Officer for our Tourism Market Intelligence and Competitiveness will provide you with more in-depth information on the current global and regional tourism trends when he delivers his presentation under session 1.

But apart from the proverbial light we’re all seeing at the end of the tunnel, the silver lining to the cloud of the pandemic is the fact that it has opened our eyes.

It has opened our eyes to the need to rethink tourism in order to transition into a new kind of tourism which advocates the transformation of our sector into a more sustainable and resilient model capable of withstanding future crisis situations.

This means that returning to business-as-usual as we knew it prior to the pandemic is no longer an option.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

COVID-19 has also taught us to capitalise on the opportunity presented by the recovery of tourism globally to reimagine the tourism sector and to transform it.

This is one of the reasons why this year’s World Tourism Day theme of last September in Bali was Rethinking Tourism.

The theme was further highlighted at the G20 Tourism Ministers’ Meeting also in Bali, during which my Secretary-General urged leaders in Tourism to seize the opportunity to rethink and transform tourism in order to capitalise on its great potential for sustainability.

And this is also why the theme of World Tourism Conference 2022 – that is, “Tourism Futures Reimagined” is very apt because it reflects the collective task of all stakeholders to rebuild the tourism sector from an innovative and transformative perspective so as to craft practical solutions for our industry’s future.

We are gathered here therefore with the main purpose of discussing the most recent innovations, trends, challenges as well as strategies that can drive tourism’s recovery and resilience in a post-pandemic world.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is undeniable that we are not out of the woods yet, considering that we’re now facing multiple challenges including the impact of the war in Ukraine on the world economy, rising interest rates, high prices of energy and consumer goods, all of which are contributing to mounting cost of living.

Yet, despite these challenges and their accompanying uncertainties which are threatening to undermine consumer behaviour, we are confident that the pace of tourism’s recovery will not be stopped because of our sector’s proven capacity to rebound in the face of global challenges.

This is why I feel very encouraged to see such a wide range of prominent speakers including policymakers, experts, academia and industry leaders in tourism, whose wealth of knowledge and expertise are sure to provide us with deep insights into the theme of this conference and enlighten us on strategies to accelerate the recovery of our industry.

I am very grateful to Dr. Ong Hong Peng, UNWTO anchor consultant who has contributed to this conference from day one since 2007.

In closing, UNWTO is extremely happy to have more than 1,000 participants including 300 international delegates. This signifies the extent to which Malaysian tourism stakeholders appreciate this well-established event.

So let’s get ready for the 4 sessions of the programme ahead of  us today and tomorrow and to participate actively in the ensuing discussions which promise to be very engaging and instructive. 

Thank you for your kind attention. Terima kasih!

SOURCE: Corporate Communications Unit
Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture (MOTAC)

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT: 
Name: Muhammad Najmi
Tel: 6019-276 5789

Name: Eliana
Tel: 6012-361 0285

Website: www.motac.gov.my
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--BERNAMA