Coldplay concert could bring significant economic boost - KJ
SHAH ALAM - Former Rembau MP Khairy Jamaluddin has described the significant economic impact of organising a concert by the British rock band Coldplay in Malaysia.
He explained that the country would benefit economically as many visitors would spend money here.
"People think a concert is just a concert, but they forget that when we organise concerts with international artists, people come from outside and have to book hotel rooms, flights, and they will spend money.
"So the multiplier effect on our economy is significant," he said during the Keluar Sekejap podcast on Friday.
On Tuesday, Malaysian United Democratic Alliance (Muda) president Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman, expressed that Malaysia missed out on the economic opportunity that could have been generated from hosting the concert.
He stated that Singapore gained a substantial profit when the group decided to perform for six days in that country.
Earlier, the media reported that Coldplay made history by holding the most consecutive concerts at a single venue for six days at the National Stadium in Singapore as part of their Music Of The Spheres tours in January next year.
On this, Khairy noted that Malaysia needs a strategy to address the issue, and tourism is one of the largest sources of foreign currency inflow.
"This is because tourists come and spend using the Malaysian ringgit. It is one of the second or third largest sources of foreign currency for our country.
"However, we still haven't positioned Malaysia on the tourist map compared to Singapore or Bangkok," he added.
Khairy also raised the importance of diversifying the country's tourism strategy and questioned the need to wait for the Visit Malaysia Year to offer a variety of events and programs in the country.
"We shouldn't wait for Visit Malaysia Year every four or five years or rely solely on one market, such as tour packages from China. Do we have a narrative in terms of tourism?
"We used to have the tagline 'Malaysia Truly Asia,' and it was a beautiful tagline, but what products truly make Malaysia part of Asia? I am concerned that at some point we will fall further behind in terms of tourism," he explained.
Therefore, he urged the government, particularly the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture (MOTAC), to be more proactive and plan for future international concerts and events.
"We shouldn't be reactive and start chasing after a Coldplay concert when we find out they're going to perform. There should be officers within the tourism ministry who already anticipate that this band will go on tour.
"We used to have Formula One (F1) as our main program in the tourism calendar, but now it's gone. So we need to be more aggressive," he said.
