youth tourism 2006 ppk n 01

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YOUTH TOURISM CONFERENCE:

Perspectives and Prospects

Palm Garden Hotel, Putrajaya, MALAYSIA

Wednesday, 3 May 2005

KEYNOTE ADDRESS

THE ROLE AND IMPORTANCE OF YOUTH TOURISM IN THE MALAYSIAN TOURISMINDUSTRY

THE ROLE AND IMPORTANCE OF YOUTH TOURISM IN THE MALAYSIAN

TOURISM INDUSTRY

MR. MIRZA MOHAMMAD TAIYAB

Deputy Director General I, Tourism Malaysia

Distinguished Participants,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am indeed honoured and privileged to be present here this morning amongst so manydistinguished delegates of the Youth Tourism Conference: Perspectives and Prospects. Firstand foremost, I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Tourism Malaysia (KL,Putrajaya and Selangor), the Tourism Planning Research Group, UTM and the TourismResearch Circle, USM for hosting and organising this conference, and for having graciouslyinvited me to present a keynote paper entitled The Role and Importance of Youth Tourism in

the Malaysian Tourism Industry. I would also like to thank the International Youth HostelFederation and the Malaysian Tourist Guides Council for their contribution towardsorganising this important conference.


Youth tourism is not a new phenomenon given that young people have always travelled

around the world with their families, friends, in groups, or on their own for centuries.

However, the notion of modern youth travel originated after the Second World War, which

was strongly influenced by the creation of youth movements to campaign for peaceful ideals

and cultural exchanges. According to the World Tourism Organisation (WTO), international

trips taken by young travellers grew from 14.6% in 1980 to 20% in 2001, and had been

projected to reach 25% by 2005. As a matter of fact, youth travel is believed to be the fastest

growing travel market segment, surpassing even ecotourism and cultural tourism.


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THE ROLE AND IMPORTANCE OF YOUTH TOURISM IN THE MALAYSIANTOURISM INDUSTRY

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Despite its long history, there is no widely accepted definition of the youth travel market

segment. The WTO defines the young tourism market as travellers between 16 to 25 years

old, who take a trip involving at least one nights stay. However, countries such as Canada

have expanded this definition to include young adults of between 26 to 30 years old.

Meanwhile, the Student and Youth Travel Association of North America (SYTA) has also

expanded WTOs definition of youths to include those under 16 years of age. The youth travel

market segment can be divided into two categories; namely group travel and independent

travel, and it is important for us to understand the characteristics, motivations and

expectations of both groups.

Group travel is commonly defined as a group of six (6) or more people that are travelling

together. This category can be further subdivided into school-based youth travel andnon-

school-based youth group travel. School-based youth travel is driven by curriculum-related

activities or co-curricular activities such as school societies or team sports. Essentially, the

travel activities are generally undertaken as a group, and accompanied by teachers or other

adults. In Malaysia, The Ministry of Education has been handling school-based youth travel

for the past 15 years, in the form of educational tours/cultural exchange trips, mainly

involving schools from Japan. Between 2001 to 2004, close to 10, 000 Japanese school

children and teachers have visited Malaysia on such trips (Table 1).

Table 1: Japanese School Children Participating in

Educational Tours to Malaysia

Year Number of visitor Percent (%) Increase (%)

2001 1527 16.6

2002 3723 40.4 +143

2003 2241 24.3 - 39.8

2004 1720 18.7 -23.2

Total 9211 100.00

Source: Ministry of Education Malaysia, 2005


The homestay programme is another tourism product that is becoming more and more

appealing to youth travellers. In 1997, there were only 286 houses participating officially in

this programme throughout Malaysia and by 1998, the number of participants had increased

to 321 houses. By 2004, the number of participants had risen to 948 and currently there are

1089 participants (Fig. 1, Fig. 2 and Table 2).


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2 3 4 4

212

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277

8 1217

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50

100

150

200

250

300

Perak

Perlis

Labu

an

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ang

Joho

r

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ganu

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ka

Langka

wi

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ntan

Sarawak

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N.Sembila

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Participants

No. of Village

Fig. 1: Total Number of Homestay Participants in

Malaysia, 1997 2005

Source: Ministry of Tourism Malaysia, 2005

Fig. 2: Distribution of Homestay Participants in Malaysia


286 321

776

948

1089

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1997 1998 2002 2004 2005

Yea r

No.ofParticipants


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Table 2: Distribution of Homestay Participants inMalaysia, 2005

No. State Total of Participants

1. Selangor 72

Kg. Ulu Chuchuh 17

Kg. Kanchong Darat 20

Kg. Endah 20

Kg. Sg. Sireh, Tg. Karang 15

2. Sabah 212Mitabang Homestay 12

Kg. Pukak Homestay/ Tuaran 8

Misompuru Homestay 34

Miso Walai Homestay, Kg. Batu Putih 19

Sukau Homestay 5

Kg. Bilit Homestay 9

Kg. Kuala Ibai 4

Kg. Melangkap Tiong/ Kota Belud 5

Toginambur Homestay/ Kota Belud 9

Kg. Long Parsia/ Sipitang 15

Walai Tokou Homestay, Kg. Sinisian 16

Papaga Homestay 8

Kinarut (Under LKIM) 12

Tambunan Homestay 10

Kg. Tanjung Aru (Under LKIM) 19GDW Kg. Bayangan 26

3. Kedah 51

Sungai Bakap, Relau 28

Yan 23

4. Langkawi 60

Kg. Wang Tok Rendong (WTR) 40

Pulau Tuba 20

5. Sarawak 61

Kg. Telok Melano 19

Kg. Telaga Air 23

Kg. Tanah Hitam 5

Kg. Pueh 14

6. Johor 42

Kg. Sarang Buaya 5

Kg. Lukut 5Kg. Bukit Lintang 12

Mersing 5

Kg. Serkat 15

7. Pahang 277

Desa Murni 81

Bangau Tanjung 18

Megat Segama 13

Kampung Peragap 4

Kg. Ketam 11

Kg. Tenggara 1

Seberang Temerloh 1

Kerdau 14

Seri Semantan 2

Bukit Fraser 2

Tanah Rata 1Sungai Pasu, Raub 11

Kg. Sibar, Kuala Lipis 12

PPSK Rumpun Makmur, Kuala Krau 15

Kg. Belimbing, Kuantan 9


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The Ministry of Tourism Malaysia, Tourism Malaysia and the Malaysian Homestay

Association have been instrumental in developing and promoting the homestay product.

Interestingly, the homestay programme is also very popular with school-based trips, notably

from Japanese schools, and at Desa Murni Homestay in Temerloh, around 95% of the visitors

are Japanese youths. Despite this and the educational trips handled by the Ministry of

Education, the Malaysian tourism industry has only managed to capture around 1% of the

No. State Total of Participants

Felcra Sri Makmur 14

Mukim Penyor 1, Pekan 22

Felcra Sg. Temau 12

PPSK Tembeling Tengah 10

Kuala Medang 24

8. Terengganu 47Kampung Rhu 10 15

Kampung Baru Penarik 5

Kampung Pasir Raja, Hulu Dungun 27

9. Pulau Pinang 23

Mengkuang Titi 23

10. Negeri Sembilan 90

Kg. Pelegong 29

Kg. Lonek

Homestay F`Best, Serting Hilir

Bangkinang homestay 30

Gemas Homestay

11. Melaka 52

Kg. Seri Tanjung 35

Kg. Pulai 2

Kg. Alai 9

Kg. Serkam 6

12. Kelantan 60

Kg. Pantai Suri 21

Renok Baru, Gua Musang 17

Ulu Kursial, Tanah Merah 22

13. Labuan 22

Kg. Patar Patar 1 2

Kg. Patar Patar 2 5

Kg. Sg. Keling 2

Kg. Sg. Miri 8Kg. Sg. Labu 1

Kg. Layang Layangan 2

Kg. Batu Menikam 1

14. Perlis 12

Kg. Ujong Bukit 12

15. Perak 8

Pasir Salak 8

Total 1089


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Japanese school childrens market segment in 2004, out of the 651, 788 school children that

travelled abroad in that year.

The second sub-category of group travel is the non-school-based youth group travel. These

are generally organised by groups outside of the school, such as sports team, youth clubs,

Scouts or Girl Guides and cultural performance troupes. Similar to that of the school-based

youth group travel, most of the activities are also undertaken as a group with supervising

adults acting as chaperones. The itineraries are also event-driven and are often made with the

involvement of the youth participants themselves. Examples of such groups from Japan that

have visited Malaysias homestays in the past are as follows:

y Japan International Cooperation Agencyy

Japan Overseas Cooperation Association

y Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteersy Municipal Board of Education, Osakay Fukuoka Malaysia Associationy Nagoya Malaysia Friendship Associationy Akifuchu Senior High School Hiroshimay Minani Oguni Wood Working Cluby Federation of World Youth Association, Nagasakiy Federation of World Youth Association, Osakay Federation of World Youth Association, Okayama

y Japanese Embassy


The second category of the youth travel market segment is independent travel. Independent

travel is also sometimes referred to as independent youth travellers orbackpackers. This type


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of travellers either travel alone, or in small informal groups. It can also be noted that within

this market segment alone, exist significant differences between various age groups of young

travellers, in terms of their spending pattern and travel needs. Most independent youth

travellers travel to destinations farther from home, where they stay longer. Foreign

independent youth travellers tend to stay longer compared to domestic youth travellers,

because they want to explore the different cultures, increase their knowledge and experience

excitement in a different environment.

From a study conducted on international backpackers by tourism researchers in University

Malaya, it was found that their average daily expenditure was RM 227.06. If we were to

multiply this average daily expenditure with their average duration of trip in Malaysia, which

is about 19.5 days, the estimated expenditure of these international backpackers would be RM

4,427.67. On the other hand, for other tourists in Malaysia, their average length of stay per

tourist is only 6.0 days with an average expenditure of RM 1,888 per tourist. This shows that

the backpackers expenditure per capita is 2.3 times higher than the average of all tourists in

Malaysia.


Of late, local academics have been conducting research related to youth tourism, covering

aspects such as the overall profile and trends in youth tourism, satisfaction levels of youths

and backpacker tourism and so forth. It should be pointed out that most of these studies were

and are being funded by either the Ministry of Tourism or Tourism Malaysia. Nonetheless

more research and the dissemination of knowledge on the youth tourism phenomenon is

required, hence the appropriateness and timeliness of this conference.

The importance of youth tourism as a field of international interest for policymakers and

researchers was cemented at the first WTO Conference of Youth Tourism held in New Delhi

way back in 1991. Since then, youth associations such as the International Student Travel

Confederation (ISTC) and the Federation of International Youth Travel Organisations

(FIYTO) have been carrying out studies and conducting annual conferences related to youth

tourism. In 2002, ISTC in collaboration with the Association of Leisure and Tourism

Education (ATLAS) launched a landmark study on youth tourism, entitled Todays Youth

Travellers: Tomorrows Global Nomads. The report gave insights into the main findings of

a major transnational survey on independent youth and student travel, based on responses


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from 2,300 young people and students from Canada, The Czech Republic, Hong Kong,

Mexico, Slovenia, South Africa, Sweden and the UK. Among their major findings were:

Majority of the respondent were students aged below 26 years with a high educationlevel.

The main motivations were to explore other cultures (83%), followed by excitement(74%) and increasing knowledge (69%).

Long trips was seen as a once in a lifetime opportunity for many young people andstudents, and they were prepared to dedicate a lot of time, energy and money to

ensure that their trip achieve that.

Their main sources of information used for planning their trip were the Internet(71%) and friends/family (70%).

Less experienced travellers relied more heavily on travel agents for information,while the slightly older travellers used guidebooks (37%).

The main mode of transport to the destination was air travel (82%), with rail travelat 30%.

The most popular forms of accommodation were visiting friends and relatives(41%) and backpacker hostels (32%).

The most popular activities were visiting historic sites and monuments (77%),walking and trekking (76%) and more leisurely pursuits such as sitting in

cafes/restaurants (72%) and shopping (72%).

The report concluded that the youth and students travel to seek experience, and often make

repeat visits. Most importantly, the study showed that youth travellers gain a thirst for more

travel after they return from their trips, which increases the long-term potential of this market.


Between 2000 to 2005, tourism revenue in Malaysia had increased from RM 17 billion to RM

31 billion respectively. In 2010, tourist arrival is expected to increase to 24.6 million. We can

estimate that if youth travel represents approximately 20% of global tourism, the number of


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young travellers to Malaysia by 2010 will be just under 5 million (4.9 m.). This begs the

question whether the tourism industry in Malaysia is well prepared to position itself and to

cater for the specific needs of these young travellers.

The Visit Malaysia Year 2007 campaign should be used as an opportunity for the related

government agencies, tourism industry, NGOs and other key stakeholders to plan and offer

tour packages, facilities and events specifically designed for youths. In addition, it is hoped

that VMY 2007 will provide the foundation for the creation of a tourism culture among

youths in the country.


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Fig. 3: Tourism Indicators, 2000-2010

Source: Ninth Malaysia Plan, 2006


With the apparent and rapid changes taking place in the world today, the youth travel industry

is expected to be affected by various trends over the next five years. Some of which are:

A more demanding, discerning and challenging market: Young people, educators andparents are well informed about travel options and costs. Todays youth will shop

around, often using the Internet, until they are satisfied that their money will be well

spent and their travel expectations will be met.

The ongoing concerns about safety and security: Youth group travel organisers areparticularly sensitive to risk. The invasion of Iraq and fear of health threats such as


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SARS, Avian Flu, etc. have resulted in trip cancellations in the past, including

educational trips from Japan.

More people are becoming more involved in the travel decision: This is especiallyrelevant to youth group travel as in the case of Japan, whereby the Ministry of

Education (MONBUSHO) decides on the preferred destination and the partner

schools in Malaysia. Therefore the tourism industry in Malaysia should understand

the system of operation and distribution channels of youth travel.

Sustained economic growth: All travel and tourism traditionally increases duringgood economic times due to the increase in disposable income, social mobility and

changing consumer trends.

Increasing influence and use of information technology: The spread of the Internethas opened up communication channels worldwide. Young travellers today are fully

wired, relying on the Internet at all stages of travel. The implication of this includes

opening up new markets, new promotional and packaging opportunities, and new

service and product opportunities.


From the scenario above, we can see that youth travel represents a significant share of the

overall tourism market. There are, however, significant barriers that must be overcome before

the Malaysian tourism industry will be able to capitalise on current and future opportunities

that the youth travel market presents.

The understanding of the youth travel industry is still minimal. The Malaysia tourismindustry must recognise young travellers as a distinct and important market segment

and understand its characteristics. The industry should be aware that young travellers

are looking for authentic and educational travel experiences, the sharing of culture

and a sense of adventure during their journey.

Malaysia has yet to position itself to attract the youth travel market. We must findways to position our country to be attractive to young travellers given that they

represent a lifetime of travel revenue. Ultimately, we must position Malaysia as a

prime tourist destination for young travellers. In contrast, Australia, France, New


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Zealand, the United Kingdom and Thailand have been known to target young

travellers as a priority group and are reporting impressive results from youth-targeted

promotional programmes.

The youth travel market is currently not a priority for the Malaysia tourism industry.While other lucrative market segments such as MICE are being rightfully promoted,

young travellers should also be given priority as they will soon become adults, launch

careers and start families. In turn, they are likely to follow the travel patterns that they

established in their youths.

The Malaysian tourism industry is still not organised to unlock the potential of youthtourism. Currently, there are few tour operators providing specialised travel packages

for youths and youth-specific facilities and services such as youth hostels and student

discount cards. Tour operators should link up with low cost carriers especially

AirAsia, KTMB, etc. to provide exciting youth tourism packages. Ultimately, there

should be a youth hostel in every state in the country and tour guides should increase

their product knowledge and proficiency in foreign languages.


Lest we forget, youth tourism is nor solely about economic gains. In tandem with generating

tourist arrivals, youth tourism is a powerful tool for the promotion of goodwill and peace

among nations and communities, regional integration and cross cultural exchange. In addition,

youth tourism can be used to empower youth, foster pride in the community, reduce social ills

and revitalise as well as rekindle interest in our cultural heritage.

Finally, I would like to take this opportunity, once again to thank the organisers of this

conference for their initiative and wish you all a fruitful discussion in making youth tourism

as a major target market segment. Tourism Malaysia stands ready to extend its fullest

cooperation to make tourism the nucleus for socio-economic development and well being of

the nation and community at large.

Thank you.

youth tourism 2006 ppk n 01

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