A top Penang tourism chief slammed government number-crunchers for getting tourist figures dead wrong. Wong Hon Wai ripped apart official statistics that ranked Perak above his state for local visitors. The tourism boss called the government survey totally flawed and misleading. He fired back after critics questioned his state's tourism success. Wong accused federal statisticians of using bad methods to count visitors.
Government researchers picked just 204 neighborhoods across Penang for their nationwide study. The survey covered 2,819 areas across Malaysia but gave Penang tiny representation. Wong argued this small sample could never capture the real picture. He said the approach was like judging a movie from watching five minutes. The tourism chief demanded better research methods from federal agencies.
Hotel booking records paint a completely different story about visitor numbers. Penang attracted 5.2 million local guests and three million foreigners last year. The state welcomed 8.2 million total tourists based on actual hotel stays. Perak managed only 4.18 million domestic hotel bookings during the same period. Wong pointed out these real numbers proved his state's tourism strength.
The government survey asked random families about their travel memories from the past year. Researchers never visited airports, hotels, or actual tourist spots to gather data. Wong criticized this approach as unreliable and backward-looking. He said active travelers would give much better information. The method missed the real tourism picture completely.
Federal statisticians counted day-trippers and family visitors as regular tourists. Many people just went home for holidays or quick visits without staying overnight. Wong argued these groups spend little money and boost tourism economies barely. He said quality tourism states like Penang got unfairly judged by this loose definition.
Government researchers picked just 204 neighborhoods across Penang for their nationwide study. The survey covered 2,819 areas across Malaysia but gave Penang tiny representation. Wong argued this small sample could never capture the real picture. He said the approach was like judging a movie from watching five minutes. The tourism chief demanded better research methods from federal agencies.
Hotel booking records paint a completely different story about visitor numbers. Penang attracted 5.2 million local guests and three million foreigners last year. The state welcomed 8.2 million total tourists based on actual hotel stays. Perak managed only 4.18 million domestic hotel bookings during the same period. Wong pointed out these real numbers proved his state's tourism strength.
The government survey asked random families about their travel memories from the past year. Researchers never visited airports, hotels, or actual tourist spots to gather data. Wong criticized this approach as unreliable and backward-looking. He said active travelers would give much better information. The method missed the real tourism picture completely.
Federal statisticians counted day-trippers and family visitors as regular tourists. Many people just went home for holidays or quick visits without staying overnight. Wong argued these groups spend little money and boost tourism economies barely. He said quality tourism states like Penang got unfairly judged by this loose definition.
