CHAPTER 2- Hospitality

and related services in

Malaysia
DEFINITION
 Tourism
Tourism is travel for recreational,
leisure or business purposes. The World
Tourism Organization defines tourists as
people "traveling to and staying in
places outside their usual environment
for not more than one consecutive year
for leisure, business and other
purposes".
Tourism industry
Tourism industry can be defined as a
service industry. It includes
transportation, accommodation and
services.
 Hospitality
A term implies whereby a guest who is
away from home is welcomed by a host
where basic necessities are provided
such as food, beverages and lodging.
The term is derived from the Latin word
‘hospitaire’, which means ‘to receive a
guest’.
Hospitality Industry
An industry comprises business entity of
food, beverages, lodging or a
combination of these businesses to
travellers during their stay in a
destination.
 Leisure
 The condition of having one's time free

from the demands of work or duty.

• Freedom or spare time provided by the
cessation of activities;
• free time as a result of temporary
exemption from work or duties;
• a time at one's own command that is
free of engagements or responsibilities;
 Recreation
 -Refreshment by means of some pastime,
agreeable exercise, or the like.
 Re-create: to renew or enliven through the
influence of pleasurable surroundings;
 to refresh after wearying toil or anxiety,
usually by change or diversion;
 the act of recreating or the state of being
recreated: refreshment of the strength and
spirits aftertoil; diversion, play; a means of
getting diversion or entertainment.
HISTORY & DEVELOPMENT OF
TOURISM & HOSPITALITY
INDUSTRY
HISTORY
 MALAYSIA

Since the early 1980s, Malaysia has steadily diversified

its economy. Major changes include a departure from a
reliance on the cultivation and export of raw materials,
in particular natural rubber, to a focus on services,
manufacturing and tourism. Tourism, in particular, has
had a significant impact and, as a generator of foreign
exchange, is second only to the oil industry. Increases
in employment, development and foreign exchange
earnings, however, can burden a tourism infrastructure
that is not fully developed.
 INTERNATIONAL
Wealthy people have always traveled to distant parts of
the world, to see great buildings, works of art, learn new
languages, experience new cultures and to taste different
cuisines. Long ago, at the time of the Roman Republic,
places such as Baiae were popular coastal resorts for the
rich.
The word tourist was used by 1772 and tourism by 1811.
In 1936, the League of Nations defined foreign tourist as
"someone traveling abroad for at least twenty-four
hours". Its successor, the United Nations, amended this
definition in 1945, by including a maximum stay of six
months.
DEVELOPMENT
 MALAYSIA

In tandem with the continuous growth of

the tourism
industry, the expansion of the hotel
industry has boosted the availability of
hotel rooms rapidly from as low as 989
hotels in1990 to an almost 80 per cent
increment at 1,776 hotels in 2001.
 This was due to the influx of new hotels
and building of additional rooms in
existing hotels to fulfill the increase in
tourist arrivals.
 Meanwhile, the room capacity in the
industry increased by almost 3-fold to
130,757 rooms during the
implementation of VMY 1990 campaign.
 INTERNATIONAL
There has been an up trend in tourism over the
last few decades, especially in Europe, where
international travel for short breaks is common.

Tourists have a wide range of budgets and

tastes, and a wide variety of resorts and hotels
have developed to cater for them. For example,
some people prefer simple beach vacations,
while others want more specialised holidays,
quieter resorts, family-oriented holidays or niche
market-targeted destination hotels.
 The developments in technology and transport
infrastructure, such as jumbo jets, low-cost
airlines and more accessible airports have
made many types of tourism more affordable.
 On April 28, 2009 The Guardian noted that
"the WHO estimates that up to 500,000 people
are on planes at any time”. There have also
been changes in lifestyle, for example some
retirement-age people sustain year round
tourism.
 This is facilitated by internet sales of
tourist services. Some sites have now
started to offer dynamic packaging, in
which an inclusive price is quoted for a
tailor-made package requested by the
customer upon impulse.
 Ways to Promote Tourism
• To promote tourism in recent years, the government of

Malaysia has introduced a number of programs, including

domestic tourism, shopping tourism, medi-tourism,
edutourism, eco-tourism, agro-tourism, and sport
tourism.
a. Domestic Tourism
– The government emphasizes on promoting domestic
tourism.
– Cuti-cuti Malaysia is the tagline for domestic tourism.
Launched in September 1999, the main objective was to
inculcate the value of holiday culture among Malaysians.
b. Shopping Tourism
– Malaysia offers fantastic shopping deals.
– Shopping represents about 21.4 per cent of total tourist
spending in Malaysia for 2001.
– A program called Mega Sales Carnival made Malaysia a
shopping paradise.
c. Medi-Tourism
– The idea of medi-tourism is to mix leisure with
healthcare.
– Medi-tourists travel for dual purposes: for treatment
(dialysis, cardiology, orthopedics, etc.) and/or preventive
healthcare (medical check-up, blood test, etc.).
d. Edu-Tourism
– To position Malaysia as a centre of academic
excellence, Malaysia attracts international students to
study in Malaysia while providing them with
reasonable and affordable tour packages to visit the
country’s scenic spots.
e. Eco-Tourism
– Eco-tourism is travel to relatively uncontaminated
natural areas that conserves the environment and
sustains the well being of local people.
– Eco-tourism brings benefits to rural communities in
terms of increased revenue.
f. Agro-Tourism
– Agro-tourism in Malaysia includes farm-stays and visits to
agricultural parks.
– Agro-tourism was developed with the participation of the
rural population, who offer accommodation at their homes
to tourists at a reasonable price with the choice of either
day visits or farm-stays based on the bed and breakfast
concept in the West.
g. Sport Tourism
– Malaysia has been active in promoting international
sporting events, including F1 Grand Prix, Le Tour de
Langkawi (international cycling event), and Formula One
Power Boat Race.