Malaysia Sends Delegation to Learn Tourism From Bali

The head of the Bali tourism agency said on Thursday that Malaysia hopes to learn about tourism from the Island of the Gods, Indonesia’s most popular tourist destination, and was sending government officials for the purpose.

Ida Bagus Kade Subikshu said he had met with Tourism Malaysia director for Jakarta, Nor Aznan Sulaiman, and his deputy Norlizah Jahaya to prepare for a meeting in Nusa Dua, Bali, on Friday between the Bali administration and a 15-member Malaysian delegation led by Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Bin Yassin.

“Malaysia wants to learn about the plans and strategies of Bali’s tourism development and wants to share experiences with Bali. They say Bali is great, especially with regard to its cultural aspects,” Subikshu said in Denpasar.

He added that it was Bali’s renowned artistic and cultural riches — and these elements’ integration with its tourism — that Malaysia wanted to learn more about.

Malaysia’s overall tourism sector is more developed than Indonesia’s. The World Tourism Organization in its 2011 World Tourism rankings listed Malaysia as the ninth most visited country in the world, drawing 24.7 million international tourists last year, compared with Indonesia’s 7.65 million visitors.

Subikshu said Malaysia’s success was mainly attributable to its intensive promotional activities, including high-cost ads on international TV networks.

Bali alone attracted 2.7 million foreign visitors in 2011, accounting for more than one-third of the total international visitors to Indonesia.(Jakarta Globe)