Return Mesra Malaysia course to its original objective

MESRA MALAYSIA (Friendly Malaysia) is the name of a world-class training programme by the Tourism, Arts and Culture Ministry (Motac). Its origin could be traced all the way back to 1986 when the World Expo was held in Canada at Vancouver.

The exposition organisers were determined to accord the highest standard of hospitality to visitors from far and near. So, a programme was created to train volunteers as hosts for visitors from all over the world, and tourists may have different cultures and speak little or no English.

The training turned out to be highly effective and contributed to the huge success of Expo 86. Later, American Express bought over the training rights of the programme and distributed it worldwide, naming it as Malaysia Host in Malaysia, Australia Host in Australia and so on.

In Malaysia, American Express collaborated with Motac in rolling out Malaysia Host in the late 1990s. Later, this one-day programme was localised and renamed Mesra Malaysia. Both Malaysia Host and Mesra Malaysia were equally powerful for one main reason.

Attendance certificates were awarded only to candidates that passed both practical and written tests. Marks for practical were based on their level of participation, such as eagerness to ask or answer questions, provide comments or share experiences and make eye contact with trainer.

As such, training was highly interactive, lively and fun. Participants paid full attention to the trainer, especially on points given emphasis, as they are likely to be among the questions in the objective test.

But for Visit Malaysia Year (VMY) 2007, Mesra Malaysia was drastically changed. The one-day programme was expanded to two days, and both practical and written tests were dropped.

While highest quantity was achieved, quality of training plunged. Mesra Malaysia was replaced by We Are The Host (WATH) in 2013, which was developed to prepare for VMY 2014. But the new one-day programme was packed with more than 176 slides, too many to cover in a day.

As such, WATH was more like a briefing seminar than a training programme. In 2019, it was replaced by the current Mesra Malaysia. There are a total of 85 certified trainers nationwide for this programme, which is compulsory for new tourist guides to obtain their guiding licence.

But with the cancellation of VMY 2020, free training of Mesra Malaysia by Motac for tourism personnel had largely been frozen. Hopefully, sufficient budget will be allocated to conduct free training over the next few years, as there is no better programme than Mesra Malaysia.

Good gesture goes a long way

In 2019, tourism was at its zenith and the achievements should be our target for future years until they are surpassed. It will be easier if industry personnel understand the various terms and sectors that make up the entire tourism industry, and the important roles frontliners play.

The rest of the contents in Mesra Malaysia are timeless, as participants get to know and raise their awareness on visitors’ expectations and frontliners’ roles.

Such sharing and declaring would empower all participants to learn many things that are practical and applicable, instead of discussing academic theories with hardly any application, as done in universities that churn out graduates with little industry relevant knowledge or skills.

In any case, all Malaysians ought to be friendlier with others, especially visitors and more so with foreigners, as they are more sensitive than locals, and it can be a good or bad thing. Good because the little extra effort you make is noticed, and bad when they are misunderstood.

Malaysians are friendly by nature but some can be rude without knowing, especially those that are least exposed to the norm of others. Local education emphasise study from books, and many learned by rote. Sadly, social etiquette and courtesy are not given due importance.

Be a good host, frontliners

While there is no need to go overboard, it pays to be friendlier, especially with visitors. Tourism frontliners should not look at foreign tourists they meet like they are nothing more than passing ships in the night, never to see them again.

They ought to adopt a strategy of getting tourists to return. They will come back for more if what they have experienced is wonderful and unforgettable. If they cannot make it during this trip, they will do so in their next trip.

Lest we forget, the greatest asset of a nation is its people, and this includes tourism. Frontliners must go out of their way to make foreign tourists feel at home in our country, similar to those that have taken up the Malaysia My Second Home programme and contributed to our economy.

Apart from being seen as friendly, it is better to treat customers as true friends, and it is not difficult for service providers to befriend clients. It is imperative to do so in the tourism industry as we are competing fiercely with our neighbours and want tourists to return repeatedly.

In fact, visiting friends and relatives in Malaysia had consistently been ranked only after holidays as the top main purpose for foreign tourists coming to our country, and many were on return visits. But most Malaysians, including those in tourism, are not fully aware of this reason.

Therefore, all tourism and transport frontliners must realise the important roles they play, and must actively befriend their customers, passengers or guests they get the chance to serve. Get tourists to know they have a friend in Malaysia, and you are looking forward to them returning.

And for frontliners that have served well as hosts, they would be able to confidently invite foreign tourists to come back. Tourists who have thoroughly enjoyed a great holiday in Malaysia will be sharing their experiences with co-workers, friends and relatives back home. – July 5, 2022

 

YS Chan is Asean Tourism Master Trainer for travel agencies, master trainer for Mesra Malaysia and Travel & Tours Enhancement Course. He is also a tourism and transport industry consultant and writer.

The views expressed are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Focus Malaysia.

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