Tourism Malaysia Closes Offices Nationwide

Tourism Malaysia closes its offices throughout Malaysia with immediate effect, and this comes as a shock for many people.

The main reason behind this move by Tourism Minister Datuk Nazri is to avoid job duplication with state agencies in promoting tourist attractions within Malaysia.

The closing of the 14 Tourism Malaysia offices around Malaysia will also not involve the termination of services of the staff, but they would be absorbed into the ministry’s headquarters and other departments.

Tourism Malaysia Closes Offices Nationwide

This bold move is also expected to save about RM6 million in cost annually. The money could be utilized for other expenses and promotions, said the minister.

The tourism minister also quoted that every state has its own Executive Councillor for Tourism and the State Economic Unit (UPEN), therefore they do not want a duplication of the tasks between the agencies and the tourism authorities in every state.

With the closure of the Tourism Malaysia offices around Malaysia, the ministry also plans to create five information offices based on regions. The main headquarters will still be the central region which is the Tourism Malaysia Putrajaya Office. The other new regions are;

Northern Region: Tourism Malaysia Penang Office
Eastern Region: Tourism Malaysia Terengganu Office
Southern Region: Tourism Malaysia Johor Office
Sabah Region: Tourism Malaysia Kota Kinabalu International Airport Office
Sarawak Region: Tourism Malaysia Kuching International Airport Office

This also follows the shocking news on Jan 14, 2017, where the ministry announced that four Tourism Malaysia offices abroad, New York, Perth, Johannesburg, and Perth, would be closed with immediate effect following the termination of Malaysia Airlines Bhd services there.

This was also huge news in the tourism industry when it was announced just a week before the new news of Tourism Malaysia closing all its offices in Malaysia.

Conclusion

The closure of the Tourism Malaysia offices has come as a shock to many people, especially those in the tourism-related field and industry.

With this new move, it is to show that Malaysia is undergoing a serious tourism restructuring under the leadership of the minister, Datuk Nazri in order to achieve the goal of targeting 30.5 million visitors to Malaysia for 2017.

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