Malaysia: Religious Scholars in Tourism Industry

A Malaysian minister is proposing that Malaysian students attending religious schools in Egypt master Arabic language. The minister hopes that they will be able to serve the tourism industry in Malaysia. Malaysia has seen number of Arab tourists increase in recent years. MarinaM does not like this idea. “Nor do I think that Arab tourists will necessarily welcome religious scholars as their guides on their Malaysian holiday. Why not organise Arabic classes for all the unemployed graduates, regardless of race or religion, so they may all have an opportunity to join the tourism business?”

2 comments

  • Traveller

    I think a lot of the Arab tourists prefer the free and easy way of touring. I hardly see a group of them together. Rather, it is families, couples and businessmen. Malaysian students wherever they are, are supposed to know the standard language of that country which they are in or else how are they going to study and move around ? Employers and employees working in the tourism related sector should play a very active part in promoting Malaysia to both the International and local clients. Basic stuff like politeness to not just the International travellers but also the local travellers. The local travellers are not recognized, are not appreciated and are not acknowledged for playing a big role in the tourism industry. If the International travellers stop coming in, you will still have the local travellers to back you up.

  • As far as i think i can understand the matter, the question is if those religious schoolars would be the best tourist guides for all kinds of tourists. Worse still, should they be the only guides available, even with the eventual unemployment rates presenting lots of possibly good candidates outside this group? Doesn’t it sound like chosing the candidates by class and religion, rather than by their quality or usefulness? Maybe this is not the best for Malaysian tourism industry but, as I’ve said, i have a very limited understanding of the given situation.

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