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NATIONAL TOURISM FORUM 2008
Dato Sri Azalina Dato Othman Said, Minister of Tourism with Dato Dr. Michael Yeoh at the official
opening of National Tourism Forum.
Distinguished panel of speakers at the forum: Dato Kee Phaik Cheen, Chairman of Penang Tourism
Action Council, Dato Razali Hj Mohd Daud, Acting Director-General, Tourism Malaysia, Mr. Anthony
Wong, Group Managing Director of Asian Overland Services Tours & Travel and Dr. Wong Kong Yew,
Programme Director of Taylor’s College-School of Hospitality and Tourism.
Dato Mokhzani Mahathir and the ASLI Team.
The National Tourism Forum 2008 was held on 25 - 26 September 2008 at the Prince
Hotel & Residence Kuala Lumpur, with the theme, “The Evolution and the Implications
of Tourism Dynamics”. The forum had attracted the participation of key executives and
decision & policy-makers from the government agencies, industry associations, NGOs,
hotels & resorts, airlines & airports, travel & tour operators, retailers as well as public and
private investors with vested interest in the Tourism and its downstream industries.
As one of the world’s fastest growing industries and the second largest revenue
earner in Malaysia, the Tourism industry is the backbone of enormous businesses and
employment opportunities for thousands of Malaysians. In its dynamic evolution since
the new millennium, we have seen the advent of many new tourism facets and the
proliferation of the Internet which allowed greater price transparency and control for
travelers. It had also weathered numerous economic cycles, endured terrorism threats
& attacks, outbreaks of diseases and natural disasters, all of which have significantly
impacted the industry. As organizations and individuals the world over are faced with
volatile oil prices, inflation and increasing cost of operations/living, travel and tourism will
inadvertently be impacted once again.
In the Keynote Address, Dato’ Sri Azalina Dato’ Othman Said, Minister of Tourism,
commended on the strong performance of the industry which has been growing steadily
for the past 10 years and reached a new high of 20.9 million tourist arrivals in 2007. She
was also confident that Malaysia is on track to achieve the targeted tourist arrival of 22.5
million by the end of 2008. Responding to queries from the floor at the question and
answer session afterwards, Dato’ Sri Azalina acknowledged that persistent problems
such as the quality of taxi services were a nuisance to the industry. However, she added
that this was likely to be the case of ‘one bad apple spoils the barrel’ and was sure
that the ministry and relevant authorities had been monitoring the situation and would
continue to do so to contain these problems.
The forum then proceeded with presentations and panel discussions that covered a
broad range of travel and tourism related issues over the course of the 2-day forum.
They included topics such as Discovering New Tourism Facets and Strengthening
Established Tourism Segments, Risks and Opportunities in Sports Tourism: Ploughing
Deeper to Boost Yields, Going Green: Discussing the Expectations and Deliverance
Key players of the Medical Tourism Industry: Mr. Suresh Ponnudurai, Managing Director of MalaysiaHealthCare.
com, Dr. Chong Su-Lin, CEO of Sunway Medical Center, Dato’ Teddric Mohr, CEO/President of Penang Adventist
Hospital and Mr. Stuart Pack, CEO of Hospitality, Leisure & Health Division, Country Heights Holdings Bhd.
of Ecotourism, The Personnel Touch: Panel Discussion on Human Capital in Tourism
Sector, Marching in the Medical Tourists: A Healthy Outlook, Malaysia Truly Asia:
Selling Malaysia and the Malaysian Culture, When All Good Intentions Fail: The Cavity
in the Tourism Sector and Panel Discussion: Malaysia vs. Asia: Regional Tourism for
Increased Tourist Traffic.
The panel of speakers, panelists and moderators was made up of experienced and
prominent players from various sectors of the industry. They were Dato’ Razali Hj Mohd
Daud - Acting Director-General, Tourism Malaysia, Dato’ Kee Phaik Cheen - Chairman,
Penang Tourism Action Council, Ms Elizabeth Wong - Chairman, Selangor Tourism,
Consumer Affairs and Environment Committee, Ms Gracie Geikie - Chief Executive
Officer, Sarawak Tourism Board, Dato’ Mokhzani Mahathir - Chairman, Sepang
International Circuit Sdn Bhd, Dato’ Pardip Kumar Kukreja - Executive Chairman,
Grand Paradise Holdings Sdn Bhd, Dato’ Teddric Mohr - CEO/President, Penang
Adventist Hospital, Datuk Ismail Adam - Council Member, Badan Warisan Malaysia,
Datuk Hj Mhd Amin Nordin bin Abd Aziz - Deputy Director General of Services, DBKL,
Mr. Ahmad Kamil Mohamed - President, Malaysia Sports Tourism Council, SAC II Ku
Chin Wah - Ketua Jabatan Siasatan Jenayah Kuala Lumpur, Polis Diraja Malaysia,
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Badaruddin Mohamed - Tourism Research Circle, Universiti Sains
Malaysia, Dr Asma Abdullah - Intercultural Consultant & Facilitator, Dr Chong Su-Lin -
Chief Executive Officer, Sunway Medical Centre, Dr Loh Chi Leong - Executive Director,
Malaysian Nature Society, Dr Shamsudin Ibrahim - Director of Forestry Division, FRIM,
Dr Wong Kong Yew - Programme Director, Bachelor & Master Degree Programmes,
Taylor’s College - School of Hospitality and Tourism, Mr. Rohizam Md Yusoff - Chief
Executive Officer, VirtualMalaysia.com, Mr. Anthony Wong - Group Managing Director,
Asian Overland Services Tours &Travel, Mr. Jimmy Leong - President, Malaysia Tourist
Guides Council (MTGC), Mr. Kenneth Kassem – Marine Coordinator, WWF Malaysia,
Mr. Mark Lankester - Chief Executive Officer, Tune Hotels Sdn Bhd, Mr. Phua Tai
Neng - Chief Operating Officer, Association of Tour and Travel Agents (MATTA), Mr.
Reginald T Pereira - Chief Operating Officer, Malaysia Association of Hotels Training
and Education Centre (MAHTEC), Mr. Stuart Pack - CEO of Hospitality, Leisure &
Health Tourism Division, Country Heights Holdings Berhad, Mr. Suresh Ponnudurai -
Managing Director, MalaysiaHealthCare.com and Ms Joyce Yap - President, Malaysian
Association for Shopping and Highrise Complex Management.
Chairman of Selangor Tourism, Consumer affairs and Environment Committee Ms Elizabeth Wong,
President of Tourism Educators Association of Malaysia Assoc. Prof. Dr. Badaruddin Mohamed and CEO
of Sarawak Tourism Board Ms Gracie Geikie at a panel discussion.
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Mr. Phua Tai Neng, Chief Operating Officer of MATTA, Ms Joyce Yap, President of PPK Malaysia, Dato
Pardip Kumar Kukreja, Executive Chairman of Grand Paradise Holdings Sdn Bhd, Mr. Reginald Pereira,
Chief Operating Officer of MAHTEC and Mr. Mark Lankester, CEO of Tune Hotels Sdn Bhd.