Don't Politicise Tourism Signboard Issue - Azalina

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 24 (Bernama) -- The Tourism Ministry is responsible for putting up tourism signboards and the action should not be politicised by state governments and the local authorities, said Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said.
She said to the ministry, it was best that the tourism signboards be in certain languages to enable tourists to understand the products.
"As for road signs, it is narrow thinking if having them in various languages is believed to attract tourists as they will not be able to understand the meaning, for instance, having the Jalan Alor road sign in Mandarin, Tamil and Arabic.
"What is important to tourists are signboards that provide information on a place or tourism product, including its history and background as they want to know what Malaysia has to offer," she said in reply to a supplementary question from Sim Tong Him (DAP-Kota Melaka) on efforts to popularise certain roads of historical significance like Melaka's Jonker Street and Heeren Street, in various languages.
Azalina, who is also Pengerang MP, said her ministry acknowledged that among the challenges faced was coming up with new products so that tourists would keep coming back.
"That was why it introduced the Malaysia My Second Home Programme (MM2H), then medical tourism and eco-tourism which are being aggressively promoted as other countries are doing the same for their tourism products," she said in reply to a question from Datuk Shamsul Anuar Nasarah (BN-Lenggong).
"We see the need for the promotion approaches for eco-tourism and conventions and exhibitions to be stepped up to bring in more tourists."
She said tourists were assets that would come back repeatedly while the economic returns to the country were immediate.
Earlier, Shamsul had earlier asked Azalina to clarify on the special allocations to develop tourist spots with a natural environment or rich in heritage like Hulu Perak including Lenggong.
Azalina said among the tourism products identified and being promoted were the Gendang Cave, Badak Cave, Lata Kekabu waterfall, Tasik Banding, Tasik Temenggor, Tasik Raban, Lenggong Archaeological Museum and "ikan pekasam" (pickled fish) from Tasik Raban.

tunku : yes,we hope that no one politicise the tourism signboard/billboard issue but we hope the minister don't use the signboard/billboard to promote herself , or the pm more than the tourism destinations. why the signboard need to put the big giant photos of the minister,the pm and dpm? this is not election signboard/billboard.after all, i guess the tourist will get scared if they really see the billboard with the minister's photo.