He said Lada co-chairs, finance minister II Amir Hamzah Azizan and Kedah menteri besar Sanusi Nor, had been asked to discuss ways to make holidaying in Langkawi more affordable.
Anwar said even though Langkawi offered cleaner beaches and more beautiful natural attractions than neighbouring tourist hotspots such as Phuket, high prices were discouraging locals from holidaying on the island.
“Lada will look for ways to reduce the cost of holidaying in Langkawi as the island won’t attract a lot of tourists if it’s expensive to holiday there,” he told the Dewan Rakyat today.
He added that the government would study ways to make domestic holidays more attractive to locals.
Jimmy Puah (PH-Tebrau) had earlier asked Anwar what the government was doing to address the influx of Malaysians holidaying abroad, especially over long weekends in Thailand.
Last month, about 200,000 Malaysians spent nearly RM50 million on shopping and leisure in southern Thailand during the Malaysia Day holiday week.
Most travellers had headed to Hatyai and nearby provinces such as Narathiwat, Yala, Pattani and Songkhla, where hotel bookings surpassed 120,000 rooms.
A Thai tourism industry player told Kosmo! that each Malaysian spent about 4,000 baht (RM522) over three days on lodging, food and transport.
Anwar said the stronger ringgit made holidaying overseas more attractive to Malaysians, which was one of the reasons the government had introduced measures to boost domestic tourism such as the income tax relief of up to RM1,000 for entrance fees to tourist attractions and cultural programmes.
“If the ringgit is weak, there’s a problem. If the ringgit is strong, there’s also a problem. But between the two, I’ll still choose a strong ringgit,” he said.
Earlier, Anwar told Mas Ermieyati Samsudin (PN-Masjid Tanah) that the country was looking to boost its online marketing campaigns to build on its 38 million tourist arrivals last year.
Mas Ermieyati had asked about the government’s preparations for Visit Malaysia Year 2026, during which it hopes to attract 47 million international tourists.