Dai Bin | Beautiful China joins hands with Changming Malaysia to create a new future for Asian tourism

On April 3, 2023, Malaysian Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture, Zhang Qingxin, led a delegation to visit the China Tourism Research Institute. Dean Dai Bin delivered a speech titled "Beautiful China, Joining Hands with Changming Malaysia, Creating a New Future of Asian Tourism". The full text is as follows. Your Excellency, it is an honor to receive you and the delegation from the Federal Government of Malaysia's Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture at the Key Laboratory of Tourism Economy, Culture and Tourism, which is also the academic space with the richest tourism data and cutting-edge tourism theory in China. On behalf of the China Tourism Research Institute (Data Center of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism), I would like to extend a warm welcome to you and all your friends! As the Prime Minister's envoy to Huate, you have made outstanding contributions in promoting political mutual trust, high-level visits, economic and trade exchanges between China and Malaysia, especially in tourism, art and cultural exchanges. I have noticed that the Malaysian Ministry of Tourism has set a target of receiving 5 million Chinese tourists by 2023, and I have also noticed that you recently instructed the tourism department to provide Chinese language services at the airport, provide special channels for the elderly and children, and provide convenience and necessary assistance for Chinese tourists entering Malaysia. I believe that under your leadership and the joint efforts of all parties, this goal can be achieved as soon as possible. Malaysia has abundant natural and historical cultural resources, as well as a well-developed transportation network, reception facilities, and high-quality tourism professionals. Chinese teenagers already know from world geography textbooks that the Federation of Malaysia includes Malaya on the Malay Peninsula, Sabah and Sarawak on Kalimantan Island, and the capital Kuala Lumpur. As a multi-ethnic and multicultural country, nearly 7 million Chinese people live in harmony with the Malay and other ethnic groups, working together to build this beautiful land. Many Chinese tourists, especially study abroad travelers and parent-child travelers, are willing to travel with textbooks. Chinese tourists can be seen everywhere in Kuala Lumpur, Genting, Penang, Malacca, Langkawi, Tioman Island, Redang Island, and Bangka Island. Kuala Lumpur's Twin Towers, Pavillion Square, Merdeka Shopping Centre, Dutch Red House, and Black Wind Cave are all popular tourist check-in destinations. Meat bone tea, Peranakan cuisine, La Salle, and noodles are also popular foods among Chinese tourists. The tourism industry is the third largest economic pillar and the second largest source of foreign exchange income in Malaysia, with over 3.52 million employees and accounting for more than 23% of the total employed population. The rich and diverse natural environment, splendid and diverse historical culture, perfect infrastructure, and high-quality human resources provide solid support and systematic guarantee for the high-quality development of Malaysia's tourism industry. Malaysia has always been a popular overseas tourist destination among Chinese tourists and an important inbound tourism source market for China. From the "National Day Golden Week" in 1999 to the pre pandemic year of 2019, the average annual growth rate of Chinese citizens visiting Malaysia for the first time has been 18.26%, while the average annual growth rate of Malaysian tourists visiting China during the same period has been 6.78%. Maintaining such a high growth rate for twenty consecutive years is rare worldwide. In 2019, there were 1.3835 million Malaysians traveling to China, making it the eighth largest source of tourists for China; During the same period, 2413200 Chinese made their first trip to Malaysia, making it the eighth largest destination in China. Another 710000 Chinese citizens traveled to Malaysia via other countries and regions, bringing the total number of Chinese citizens traveling to Malaysia that year to 3.12 million, accounting for 11.95% of the total number of foreign tourists received by Malaysia during the same period. Based on an estimated consumption of $2000 per tourist, 4.5035 million inbound and outbound tourists created $9 billion in tourism consumption, accounting for 18.82% of China Malaysia service trade that year. With the orderly recovery of the inbound and outbound tourism market, China Malaysia tourism exchange and cooperation will undoubtedly usher in more favorable market opportunities.

Figure 1: Number of tourism visits between China and Malaysia (2010-2021) * Data source: Your Excellency, Minister of the China Tourism Research Institute (Data Center of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism). The remarkable achievements of tourism exchanges between China and Malaysia are due to the long-term political mutual trust and high-level visits between the two countries. On May 31, 1974, China and Malaysia established formal diplomatic relations, becoming the first ASEAN country to establish diplomatic relations with China. In 2013, China and Malaysia established a comprehensive strategic partnership. The concept of building a community with a shared future for mankind is highly consistent with the concept of "Changming Malaysia" proposed by the Malaysian government. The two sides will strengthen economic and trade cooperation and the construction of "two countries, two parks", and promote cooperation in jointly building the "the Belt and Road". Throughout the history of global tourism exchange and cooperation, strategic mutual trust between countries, state visits between heads of state and government, and positive media coverage have always been the most important factors in shaping the image of tourist destinations and making travel decisions for citizens. On this basis, attaching importance to and making good use of the new communication network of industry media, self media, cultural celebrities, and opinion leaders (KOLs) is conducive to further enhancing the beautiful, friendly, inclusive, and shared national tourism image. The remarkable achievements in tourism exchanges between China and Malaysia are attributed to the positive interaction and policy innovation between the two countries' tourism departments. As early as the 1990s, Malaysia was a destination for Chinese citizens to travel abroad and was also one of the first ADS countries (approved destination status). In the Chinese context, "Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Hong Kong, Macao" has been synonymous with outbound tourism for a considerable period of time. For many years, the tourism administrative departments and professional institutions of the two countries have maintained close communication and made a lot of institutional innovation work that is conducive to personnel exchanges and cooperation. Starting from March 1, 2016, Malaysia has introduced electronic visas and visa free policies for Chinese citizens. The mutual hosting of the China Malaysia Cultural Tourism Year in 2020 will further narrow the psychological distance between the two peoples and create more opportunities for exchanges and interactions in the tourism industry. On November 21, 2021, I was invited to attend the 11th Malaysia China Entrepreneurs Conference and delivered a keynote speech titled "From Beautiful China to True Asia: Cultural Exchange and Tourism Cooperation between China and Malaysia under the RCEP Framework". With the adjustment of epidemic prevention and control policies, China has restarted outbound group tourism business, and Malaysia is one of the first 20 destination countries to open up. Under your guidance, Malaysia has established a specialized agency at international airports to serve Chinese tourists and appointed Chinese speaking officials to coordinate on-site. The remarkable achievements in tourism exchanges between China and Malaysia are attributed to the stable growth of trade, investment, and economic exchanges between the two countries. In the development process of international tourism destinations, business travelers often play a key role, providing basic support and strategic guidance. As early as twenty years ago, I led a social science fund project to study the influencing factors of the growth in the number of high-end hotels in major cities. The conclusion was that four indicators, including total import and export volume, total retail sales of social goods, railway passenger turnover volume, and inbound tourist volume, ranked high. This is because compared to tourism, leisure, and vacation needs, business travel demands such as conferences, exhibitions, roadshows, technical exchanges, sales, and channel management are more rigid, with higher demands for quality and efficiency, and higher payment capabilities. China has been Malaysia's largest trading partner for 14 consecutive years, with bilateral trade reaching a record high of $203.6 billion last year, accounting for 17.1% of Malaysia's total trade volume with China. China is Malaysia's largest source of foreign investment, with direct investment from China exceeding 12.5 billion US dollars last year, accounting for 33.9% of the total foreign direct investment. The growth of business travelers directly driven by trade and investment has brought a large number of customers to hotels, short-term rental apartments, exhibition centers, restaurants, and duty-free shops, thereby promoting the prosperous development of urban tourism and bringing high-quality customers to rural areas and scenic resorts. The remarkable achievements of tourism exchanges between China and Malaysia are attributed to the broad consensus and collaborative efforts of the public sectors, commercial institutions, and various sectors of society in both countries. Inbound and outbound tourism extensively involves multiple departments and fields such as diplomacy, consuls, immigration, aviation, ports, transportation, municipal administration, finance, public safety, culture, and tourism. The convenience of visas, customs clearance, friendly language environment, cultural respect and life concerns for inbound tourists in accommodation and catering, as well as the quality of employees and residents' attitudes, will greatly affect tourists' comprehensive evaluation of the destination. Since 2013, the China Tourism Research Institute (Data Center of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism) has conducted quarterly surveys on tourist satisfaction in 27 Chinese citizens' overseas destinations and regions. The survey data for 28 quarters from 2013 to 2019 shows that Chinese tourists' satisfaction with Malaysia has steadily increased, rising from the range of "basic satisfaction" (75-80 points) to "satisfaction" (80-85 points). Among the 27 major Chinese outbound countries and destinations included in the monitoring, the satisfaction rate of Chinese tourists to Malaysia is in the upper middle position, ranking 13th in 2019 and in the first tier. It is gratifying that Malaysian tourists visiting China generally consider the attitude of Chinese residents to be friendly, ranking first in each sub index and giving a high score of 89.06. Statistical data and intuitive experience fully demonstrate that China and Malaysia are important tourist source markets and international tourist destinations for each other, with a broad public opinion foundation of "people to people matchmaking and heart to heart connection". Table 1: Satisfaction of Chinese Tourists to Malaysia (2013-2019) Further research shows that Chinese tourists have higher evaluations of various tourism services in Malaysia than the average of overseas tourist destinations, especially in terms of local residents' attitudes, travel agency services, and project bookings. They also give satisfactory ratings for accommodation, attractions, cost-effectiveness, recommendations, catering, and urban transportation services. Here are the true evaluations of tourists visiting Penang: Penang is very simple and beautiful, and you can stroll around a small town like Penang for a few days without rushing to the attractions. There is an owl museum at the top of Flag Raising Mountain, which houses various bizarre owl works that are worth a visit; Kuala Lumpur Central Station is very distinctive, with a construction style resembling a medieval castle in England. The nostalgic steam train station in North Borneo is cheap, with breakfast and lunch included. Walking along the countryside, villages, sea, and forests, you can experience the local residents' lives up close. The environment of "Niangrao Little Kitchen" is good, delicious and inexpensive. It is located in the chicken farm street. Chicken wings, Egg cakes, chendol and blue rice are all super delicious. It is worth noting that tourists have relatively low satisfaction ratings for leisure, shopping, complaint response, and destination image.

Figure 2: Satisfaction of Chinese tourists to Malaysia from 2013 to 2019

*Data source: China Tourism Research Institute (Data Center of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism)

Your Excellency, Minister,

Faced with unprecedented changes, China and Malaysia need more tourism exchanges and deeper and more diverse tourism cooperation. China and Malaysia both belong to Asian civilizations and are beneficiaries, contributors, and maintainers of economic globalization and multilateralism. To promote dialogue among Asian civilizations, it is necessary to vigorously advance the "Asian Tourism Promotion Plan". Reading thousands of books and traveling thousands of miles has been an excellent tradition of the Chinese nation since ancient times, and traveling abroad is particularly desirable for the people. In the foreseeable future, China will no longer seek to maintain a trade surplus in tourism services with any country or region at any time. We are willing to promote people from different countries, civilizations, and skin colors to interact with each other on this blue planet, each enjoying their own beauty and sharing beauty together. We hope that overseas destination countries treat every international tourist equally and provide higher safety and quality assurance. We also look forward to tourists from all over the world, including Malaysia, to appreciate and experience the beauty of China more often. We look forward to further deepening cultural exchanges and tourism cooperation between China and Malaysia, and continuously enhancing their mutual importance as important tourist sources and destinations. Cultural exchange should not only involve traditional projects, but also modern content, especially contemporary lifestyles aimed at young people, which are the content that the new era should focus on conveying. Ms. Yang Ziqiong, who has just won the Academy Award for Best Actress, as well as many singers, artists, scientists, and business leaders, have extensive influence in both China and Malaysia, and are also an important force in shaping and conveying the country's tourism image. The focus of intergovernmental tourism cooperation should shift from group tourism to individual tourism, coordinating sightseeing and business travel, implementing more convenient visa policies and shopping tax exemption policies, such as visa mutual recognition under the RCEP framework, as well as facilitation policies for business travel and leisure vacation. We have noticed that the Malaysian Ministry of Home Affairs has opened up the automatic customs clearance system for tourists from some countries to enter the country. China and Malaysia can also collaborate with other member countries of ASEAN and RCEP to develop cross-border tourism routes with multiple stops for the global market, making "Hello China!" join hands with "Malaysia, Truly Asia" to become a classic cross-border tourism route. We look forward to further expanding local exchanges and urban cooperation between China and Malaysia, effectively reducing the decision-making process and travel costs for outbound tourists. With the enrichment of national outbound tourism experience, the image of cities as independent tourist destinations has become more prominent. Chinese tourists talk about cities such as Langkawi, Kuala Lumpur, Malacca, Sabah, Penang, as well as scenic spots such as Shenshan Mountain, Mlu National Park, Twin Peak Tower, Linglong Valley, just as Malaysian people talk about Chinese cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Xiamen, and scenic spots such as the Forbidden City, Tulou, Mount Huangshan Mountain, Terra Cotta Warriors, and Guangzhou Tower, which are as familiar as those of the Forbidden City, Tulou, Terra Cotta Warriors, and Guangzhou Tower, as if they can go there at any time. To adapt to the trend of shrinking spatial scales of tourist destinations from countries to cities and then to attractions, it is necessary to further highlight the functions and roles of cities in the overseas tourism promotion system. Advertisements, roadshows, and special promotions can be further targeted towards community residents and consumer terminals. To welcome more international tourists, we also need to increase regular flights and tourist charter flights between cities. We look forward to more exchanges and interactions between the tourism industry in China and Malaysia, as well as more interactions between investment institutions, market entities, and travel merchants. My team and I are willing to promote communication and interaction between the top 20 companies of China Tourism Group, especially travel merchants such as China Travel Service, Ctrip, Qunar, Chunqiu, and Guangzhou Travel, and first tier tourism enterprises and entrepreneurs in Malaysia. Promote more exchanges and cooperation among tourism education, scientific research, media, and think tanks, launch more study tours for young people, and provide updated health tourism projects for the elderly. On behalf of the China Tourism Research Institute, I sincerely invite Your Excellency the Minister to give a keynote speech at the China Tourism Group Development Forum on December 12th this year for the China Malaysia Tourism Entrepreneurs Dialogue. I am also willing to establish contact with the official research institution and data center responsible person designated by you, and on the basis of friendly consultation, formally sign a strategic cooperation framework agreement to jointly promote the National Tourism Think Tank Alliance, regularly carry out academic exchanges, policy research, and data exchange work, and provide theoretical momentum and data support for the high-quality development of cultural and tourism integration between China and Malaysia.