JOHOR BARU: The strong recent ringgit performance and more direct international flights have encouraged many Malaysians to travel overseas, in particular to East Asian countries.
Johor Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents (Matta) chairman Kathryn Lee said there has been an upward trend of Malaysians wanting to travel abroad since the movement control order (MCO) ended a couple of years ago.
“After the MCO, there was an economic slowdown but things have started to improve especially now that our ringgit has become stronger.
“This is very positive for Malaysians looking forward to travelling again with travel agents seeing an increase of between 50% and 60% for bookings to overseas travel destinations,” she said yesterday.
Lee added that among the top foreign destinations among Malaysians were East Asian countries such as Japan and China as well as European countries.
“However, some local travellers have opted to hold back their travel to European and Middle Eastern countries following the ongoing conflict between Iran and Israel,” she said.
Bernama reported that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said the ringgit has yet to reach its fair value despite its recent rise against the US dollar and it is emerging as South-East Asia’s best-performing currency.
“It is still undervalued (even) at RM4.10 per US dollar. People know it used to be RM3.80, but it is wise for it to strengthen gradually without intervention.
“Let the market forces play. This would reflect confidence in government policies and how we implement reforms,” he told CNBC in an interview on Friday.
On a Friday-to-Friday basis, the ringgit fell to 4.2155/4.2240 against the US dollar, down from 4.1230/4.1280 the previous week.
While acknowledging that a stronger ringgit might raise concerns among exporters, given Malaysia’s role as an export-driven economy, Anwar, who is also Finance Minister, said the issue is not significant as the currency remains undervalued.
