THE tourism industry in Malaysia is an important sector of the economy and the Malaysian government should take a good look into the problems of the industry, especially in light of recent challenges like the Iraq war and the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SAR) outbreak, said Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents (Matta) secretary-general Datuk Mohd Khalid Harun.
Khalid said the industry was facing many different kinds of challenges and Matta was undertaking various steps to overcome the problems, whether these dealt with other sectors of the industry like hotels, tour bus operators and other related businesses.