Philippine ambassador to Malaysia Eduardo Malaya holds a copy of a major Malaysian newspaper with a new item about the Philippine Independence parade held by Filipinos in Kuala Lumpur last Sunday.
Photo By Ding Cervantes
KUALA LUMPUR – Philippine embassy officials here have initiated efforts to lure Malaysians to “take a second look” on the Philippines to “correct” investments and tourism imbalance between their two countries.
In an interview here, Philippine ambassador to Malaysia Eduardo Malaya noted that while the Philippines exports some $1 billion worth of goods to Malaysia, country’s Malaysian imports cost some $2.6 billion annually.
Also, latest statistics has indicated that for every 80,000 Malaysians who visit the Philippines, 486,000 Filipinos visit Malaysia, he said, adding that Filipino businessmen’s investments in Malaysia is about three times the amount of Malaysian investments in the Philippines.
“The Philippines is contributing to Malaysian tourism and economy in general,” he noted.
Malaya noted that “Filipinos come to Malaysia for shopping which is practically duty free. Also a lot of Filipinos have discovered Kota Kinabalu.”
“We really have to balance this,” he stressed, as he lauded AirAsia for launching flights between Clark Freeport and Kuala Lumpur.
AirAsia’s inaugural flight between the two destinations last Saturday, using its “extra long” Airbus 320.
At the launching of the inaugural flights, AirAsia chief executive officer Maan Hontiveros noted that Malaysia has been getting the most number of tourists annually among Southeast Asia countries. He noted that the ratio of Malaysia’s 80 million population to tourists is almost one to one.
“Through our regular flights to Kuala Lumpur, we hope to partake of the tourists who go to Malaysia, so that from there, they would also visit our country,” Hontiveros said.
Malay has proposed several measures to attract Malaysians and other tourists who visit Malaysia to also consider visiting the Philippines which, he noted, should attract both Muslim and Christian populations.
“We can improve halal tourism by having more halal certified hotels,” he said. Halal refers to the practice of serving porkless food according to the Islamic law.
Malay also cited foreigners who have expressed interest in the Christian traditions of the Philippines. “I think many foreigners would consider the Philippines for pilgrimages. This is an aspect that we can really develop,” he added.
Malay said that only recently, the Malaysia-Philippines Business Council (MPBC) has been revived after years of being dormant since it was founded in 1996.
He said this could be instrumental in balancing the economic and tourism ration between the two countries.
The re-launching of the MPBC here was attended last May 28 by Vice Pres. Jejomar Binay and top Malaysian businessmen.
“The council aims to identify and develop areas of cooperation between the Philippine and Malaysian private sectors, to encourage and develop further investment, trade links, and joint exploration of business opportunities in third countries,” he said.
