Cultural tourism the way to go to attract visitors

Spoilt for choice: Muhammad Bakhtiar looking at some batik creations with Brava Batik founder Raz Bahari at the Batik Fest 2019.

KUALA LUMPUR: The government will turn to cultural tourism to meet its target of 28.1 million tourist arrivals set for the year.

Deputy Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Muhammad Bakhtiar Wan Chik, who disclosed this yesterday, said cultural tourism was a lucrative option.

“In Thailand, cultural tourism contributes four times more income to the country than conventional tourism activities.

“Cultural tourists want to see the way of life of locals.

“They want to visit villages, go to museums and watch traditional performances.

“We want to showcase our culture, performing arts and local crafts for tourists.

“The cultural sector, besides eco­tourism, will be among the main focus to increase the number of tourists to Malaysia,’’ he said at the Batik Fest 2019 event at the Malaysia Tourism Centre (MaTiC) here yesterday.

The country recorded 17.98 million visitors under the cultural programme last year.

Muhammad Bakhtiar said over the past three years, the cultural tourism sector maintained a positive momentum with an average income of RM551mil annually.

This year, he said the country was targeting tourism receipts of RM92.2bil.

Batik Fest 2019 will be held till tomorrow from 10am to 7pm at the Malaysia Tourism Centre.

Besides stalls selling batik creations, there are also activities such as hijab tutorial, busking, batik fashion show, zumba and also a batik-styling competition for children.