SHAH ALAM, Sept 17 — Bukit Lanjan assemblyman Pua Pei Ling has urged the state and federal governments to reform domestic tourism infrastructure to prevent the massive outflow of Malaysians overseas during long breaks.
She said the recent Malaysia Day long weekend saw over 200,000 Malaysian tourists choose to visit Thailand, giving the neighbouring country more than RM130 million.
“As 2026 is Visit Malaysia Year, the authorities must act to make domestic tourism the first choice. If not, we stand to lose tourists and revenue, and the beauty of our natural environment and local culture will be sidelined,” she added in a statement.
Pua also urged the government to include domestic tourism in national strategy, not just to draw foreigners, but so Malaysians choose local attractions for their facilities and experiences.
“Visit Malaysia 2026 is an important opportunity, and warm-ups must start this year. We must make domestic tourism the people’s main choice for holidaying,” she said.
The assemblyman said she appreciates the Selangor government and especially Tourism Selangor’s proactive efforts with the Visit Selangor Year 2025 campaign, which drew 4.14 million visitors in the first half of the year, representing 52 per cent of the goal for the year.
“I’m sure that with continuous promotion, this figure could reach and even exceed eight million visitors by year end. This (performance) is a point of pride, but what’s more important is to keep tourists spending in the country,” Pua emphasised.
