Tourism is Sabah, Malaysian Borneo is changing , and its dynamism is changing fast. some say, not as fast as they wish but i say be careful what you wish for. The focus on tourism is mainly toward China Market , clearly it is the right strategy and market to tap. Just look at the studied data and clearly China is the winner , it is the right market to focus on to counter the challenges on the traditional market.
The perspective on china when it comes to Malaysia is that this country is position on a low end market. Those high end market if targeted toward the European countries and US. Hence the reason why if we look at the china market tourist arrival and the types of China Tourist that the states is dealing with particularly in Sabah, is low end.
i am not saying they got no money, i am just saying in comparison to high end they have less, obviously. The profiling is different. Thats according to real data. Hence the manner of operation is also different compare to the high end market. The dependency on mass travel is the key for its success.
Question is, has Sabah over all this years prepared to handle mass tourism? is our tourism attraction is design for mass tourism / operational ? do we have sufficient soft skill to handle these type of market? Do we need to adjust our operational , marketing, sales , finance strategy in order to facilitate these market? is our tourism stakeholder, policies , tourism act , is prepared to handle the changes and dynamics ? Are we prepared to deal with mass tourism along with disruptive innovation at play? is out tourism act is prepared to this day of age kind of tourism ?
While the state tourism stakeholder is great at adaptive management , however the surge can be overwhelming and if we are not ready to adapt fast enough, some of our stakeholder could be at the loosing end.
Recent protest at Kota Kinabalu airport held by a group of so called tourist guides is example of how challenging the industry has become. These group felt like they are held hostage by the circumstances in the industry , pressured as they claimed or perhaps manipulated, they make a desperate act for attention on their plight.
- I prefer not define these protesters as tourist guide in that "particular time" because as per tourism act 1992, they are not a tourist guide.
While , it is easy to take the easy road and get these ill led protester punish by law. Question is , have we really look into the root cause of the problem or it is much easier to focus on the surface, pretend as if everything is alright or put the blame on them? have we analyzed enough? are we fair enough? do we care enough?
While we disagree with the way these protesters conduct themselves, we should not pretend nor denied that these protesters highlighted real dilemma , that their issues is REAL and in need of DESPERATE ATTENTION.
So much focus right now on how to deal with these protesters , i hope the relevant stakeholder will soon pay real attention to the real issues, for REAL?
At the end of the day, it is important to understand that the local tourism ministry is prepared to assist, so the best strategy is to work closely with our tourism ministry and relevant partners.
it is just unfortunate that these so called protestors makes all the wrong moves and they including most of my tourism friends fail to realized that these protestors are just pawn used by a MASTERMIND.
One thing I know is that the time will come when the mastermind will have a taste of his own medicine, for he do not know what or exactly who is coming his way.
I guess he is not much of a mastermind after all, he forgot to clean up his tracks.
Cool Image from : https://stocklandmartelblog.com , Photo by Jorg Badura
"Ponder and deliberate before you make a move. "
― Sun Tzu, The Art of War
“Engage people with what they expect; it is what they are able to discern and confirms their projections. It settles them into predictable patterns of response, occupying their minds while you wait for the extraordinary moment — that which they cannot anticipate.”
― Sun Tzu, The Art of War
“Let your plans be dark and impenetrable as night, and when you move, fall like a thunderbolt.”
― Sun Tzu, The Art of War
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