The ringgit’s plummeting value might be alarming to most Malaysians, but for Tourism and Culture Minister Nazri Aziz, it’s a sign of better times ahead.
According to Nazri, the tragedy of Malaysia Airlins Flight MH370 left Malaysia with lower tourist traffic from China, but the weak ringgit would ensure that the country becomes an attractive destination for tourists from other parts of the world.
He also said that tourist traffic into Malaysia was the only way to bring the ringgit, which hit its lowest value relative to the US dollar in 17 years, back up.
“If tourists come, they cannot go to the hotel and pay in euros; they have to buy the ringgit. There is demand,” he said today, as quoted by The Malay Mail Online‘s Mayuri Mei Lin.
Apart from the freefalling ringgit (which is now hovering at 3;l96 to the US dollar), almost RM12 billion in foreign investment funds have left the country this year, due to Malaysia’s worsening ecnonomic outlook and doubts over the country’s political stability.
Nazri pointed out that Chinese tourists were hesitant to visit Malaysia after the disappearance of Flight MH370, which vanished from flight radar whiole en route from KL to Beijing on MArch 8 2014, carrying mostly Chinese nationals.
“That’s why we need to give them preferential treatment, like no need to get visa to come to Malaysia because it is still affecting us for as long as MH370 is not found, it’s still a problem.”
