KUCHING: Treat all foreign tourists like gold, and they will swarm our shores in their millions, says Datuk Peter Minos.
The Bung Bratak Heritage Association (BBHA) chairman said that like Indonesia, Malaysia has a number of attractive tourist spots and that tourism players can learn from from the Indonesians.
“Bali can tell us a thing or two. Treat all foreign tourists like gold and they will come by millions to our shores because we too have the tourist attractions.
“Use our cultures to entice and attract tourists because they want something unique and different and not found in their countries.
“And I fully agree with a Balinese whom we met during our trip who said tourists want to be treated and pampered with genuine warmth, friendship and respect and not so much with physical things,” he said in a statement.
Upon attending a huge Christmas mass prayer in a big cathedral in Denpasar, which has a majority of Hindus, Minos remarked that Indonesia is a truly religiously tolerant country.
Bali, said Minos, is a huge and highly popular international tourism island.
Not so much because of the facilities, Hindu cultures, and many tourist attraction spots, he added, but more because of the people who are naturally and genuinely warm and friendly to foreigners.
“Every Balinese, young and old, urban or rural, shows and gives real respect and warmth to foreigners. They do so naturally, not with plastic or artificial materials.
“They know that foreign tourists are the ones who bring wealth and prosperity to Bali.
“Without the millions of tourists, there is nothing much in Bali, and that is why the Balinese treat them like gold, according to the tourist drivers,” Minos said.
Having said that, he pointed out that other Indonesians from Java and elsewhere — Muslims, Buddhists, and Christians — flock to Bali and help the tourism industry grow.
“But it is the international tourists from Australia, Europe, and the USA, plus those from ASEAN that have helped Bali prosper,” added Minos.
