We refer to the letter Audit tourist arrival figures and thank the writer for the interest he showed in the tourist arrival statistics.

If the writer had observed the trend for tourist arrivals over the last 10 years, he or she would have noticed there were downward trends in 1997, 1998 and 2003 when arrivals were affected by the haze, the outbreak of Coxsackie B, JE, Sars diseases in the region, the Iraq war and the tsunami.

As such, the tourism industry is a very vulnerable sector which is sensitive to external happenings and it cannot be taken for granted that there’s always be an upward movement for tourist arrivals.

The compilation of tourist statistics is strictly in accordance to guidelines by United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) where a tourist is a visitor who stays at least a night in Malaysia and is not here for employment. There are four categories of movement by individuals, viz. traveler, visitor, tourist and excursionist.

The UNWTO guidelines have been given and explained to the Immigration Department of Malaysia (JIM), who is responsible for data collection at the source, that is, at all points of entry throughout the country through the use of the Embarkation/Disembarkation (ED) card.

For year 2007, JIM’s data collection system was switched to the Single Platform System or Sistem Imigresen Malaysia (SIM). The system is expected to be fully operational by October 2008 when all data will then be reported and sent online to Tourism Malaysia as each visitor enters and leaves the country.

The observation that there are less air arrivals is valid, since 75% of our arrivals are by road, as against 21% arriving by air. The remaining arrived via sea (3%) and rail (1%).

The writer’s remark on our claim with regards to tourism arrival figures and our motives for doing so is baseless and unfounded. It only reflects the negative perception and narrow-mindedness of the writer. It is kinder for us to dismiss them.

We invite the writer to our resource center located on the 24th floor, Menara Dato’ Onn, PWTC in Kuala Lumpur or meet up with one of our many capable and responsible young tourism officials for further clarification.

The writer is director-general, Tourism Malaysia.