Female guides cannot share same room with male colleagues

KUALA LUMPUR: The Tourism Ministry will revoke the licences of tour operators that force female tourist guides to share rooms with male colleagues.

Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ng Yen Yen said the practice had “gone on too long” and that a strong message should be sent to prevent further occurrences.

“As the ministry’s woman leader, I must be responsible for the safety of the women in the industry,” she said at a press conference yesterday.

Dr Ng said while the decision might not be acceptable to many in the industry, the ministry had no choice but to ensure the safety of the female workers in the industry.

She said a circular would be distributed to all tourism companies through the Malaysia Association of Tour and Travel Agents.

Dr Ng said the ministry would revoke the licences of the companies the moment they were found guilty of committing the offence.

Dr Ng was Deputy Culture, Arts and Tourism Minister from 1999 to 2003.

A warning was issued in 2006 by the ministry against companies that forced their female guides to share rooms with men.

Last month, the Malaysian Women Tourist Guide Association voiced out against the practice on International Women’s Day.

On another matter, Dr Ng said the ministry would be launching a project dubbed “The Big Swing” to divert foreign tourists to Malaysia who were about to cancel their holiday plans to other Asean countries, especially Thailand, because of political problems.

Dr Ng said the programme, which involved the ministry, Tourism Malaysia and the private sector, would bring visitors to Malaysia instead if they decided not to go to their original destinations.

“We have asked our tourism operators to work closely with the operators and agencies of Thailand to seek ways to assist them to address the current scenario. It’s a win-win effort between our agencies and Thai-land’s,” she said.

She added that the ministry would also instruct all officers overseas to assure travellers that Asean countries were safe.

Dr Ng said while the protests in Thailand had not decreased international tourist arrivals to Malaysia and the region, a special committee was set up to proactively deal with issues that could hurt the tourism industry here. -- TheStar