Langkawi is poised to unleash its true potential

Relative to peers, Langkawi experiences loweryield per tourist and greater seasonality impactWhile growth in arrivals is comparable to otherdestinations, Langkawi falls behind other islanddestinations on two key metrics, average length ofstay and average daily spend, as shown in Exhibit 4.The resulting impact is that Langkawi’s tourist yield issignifi cantly lower than other island destinations.As accommodation is universally the main componentof tourist spending, Langkawi’s lower tourist spendcan be attributed to our lower proportion of 4- and5-star rooms (and hence lower average room rates)relative to peers. As shown in Exhibit 5, while thereare more than 8,000 rooms in Langkawi, only 35%of accommodation is in the 4- and 5-star categories,compared with 55% in Hawaii, 48% in Mauritius and44% in Bali.Island destinations often face seasonality in arrivals,mainly driven by weather, as tourists avoid certaindestinations during periods of monsoon or extremetemperatures. In this respect, Langkawi is favourablyprotected – its location in the Andaman Sea shelters itfrom heavy monsoons. Yet when comparing Langkawi’speak and low season traffi c (as measured by visitorarrivals), the seasonal swings are more drastic thanpeers such as Bali, Seychelles and Hawaii, with thelow season drawing less than 50% of the peak seasontraffi c, as shown in Exhibit 6.- 14 -MSG027_SquareA4_inlay.indd 14 2011-12-01 17:35