PROPOSAL OF SETTING UP A DIVING SCHOOL IN MALAYSIA
... Setting up diving school in Southeast Asia is a good strategy. Amongst the region, Malaysia is the best choice. ... 4 - MALAYSIA P. ... 5 INFORMATION ABOUT MALAYSIA P. ... As a result, the hotel packaging and air-ticketing businesses are picking up. Nowadays, travelers are not only travel solely for sightseeing but also for specific purposes such as hiking, golf, diving, fishing, skiing and racing etc. ... Among all the activities listed above, diving is one of the most popular activities. In Hong Kong, people normally learn diving in pool and in the Sai Kung area. However, the places available for diving are very limited in the territory. As such, when they have reached to a certain level of dive certification, they may look for new diving spots elsewhere. Therefore, it is expected that the overseas diving tour to the neighborhood countries will be demanding. Southeast Asia is an ideal location for diving because of the following reasons: - 1. ... Setting up a diving school in overseas has several advantages: 1. ... CHOOSING AN INVESTMENT COUNTRY Southeast Asia offers great opportunities for diving because of its strategic locations and natural resources (Travel Agent 2001). Amongst the region, there are suitable markets worth for investment like: Malaysia Thailand Philippines Indonesia COUNTRY AUDIT Following are the analysis of those popular countries for diving: Malaysia l Malaysia’s central position along Strait of Malacca and southern South China Sea l Strategic located in the heart of Southeast Asia attracting tourists from the Asia Pacific region l Achieved a growth rate of 25% in 2001 for total tourists arriving Malaysia compared with 2000, with Asian visitors contribute the bulk of growth* l Malaysian generally can speak at least three languages, Malay, English and their own mother tongue e. ... Chinese l With very long coastline of 4,675 km l With excellent shopping, good accommodation facilities, excellent infrastructure, and a fascinating culture l Malaysia has three of the world’s most popular island destinations – Pangkor, Penang and Langkawi – according to London-based magazine Conde Nast Traveler l Sipadan Island in Sabah, is one of the world’s best dvie sites *Source: Immigration Department of Malaysia (KL) Thailand l Achieved a growth rate of 5. ... 42% in 2001 for total tourists arriving Thailand compared with 2000 *Source: Thailand Immigration Bureau, Police Department Philippines l Some 7,100 islands lie in the world’s deepest water that make Philippines a great setting for divers l The most popular island is Cebu l Threats: Three American divers kidnapped by terrorists has created threats to divers, and the country has a terrible reputation among divers due to the practice of dynamite fishing, which destroy reefs Indonesia l Have beautiful coastline l Labor and other operating costs are low l Threats: Politically unstable, lack of reliable legal recourse in contract disputes, corruption, weaknesses in the banking system, and severe economic problems MARKET ENTRY DECISION After second consideration of high-risk factors about unstable political and safety issues, the options for investing this project in Philippines and Indonesia have been ruled out. Now, by making use of the Majaro’s screening analysis, we need to select either Malaysia or Thailand as the first entry market: MAJARO’S SCREENING: Criteria Score 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Stable currency GDP per capita Government stability Liberal business environment Infrastructure Education THAILAND MALAYSIA INFORMATION ABOUT MALAYSIA According to the above analysis, Malaysia is the most profitable market for our project. Here are more details about Malaysia: MALAYSIA Currency Helped by selective exchange controls and the pegging of ringgit Malaysia, currency remains stable GDP per capita Purchasing power parity: $10,300* Government stability Political stable Business environment Business environment is liberal. ... Infrastructure The most well-developed infrastructure among the newly industrializing countries of Asia (MIDA 2001):- Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) ranked number one for overall business passenger satisfaction in an IATA survey- Cyberjava, Malaysia’s first intelligent city and the nucleus of the country’s Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC)- Kuala Lumpur Central, a transportation hub integrating all major rail transport networks, including the Express Rail Link to the KLIA and Putrajaya- Malaysia’s network of well-maintained highways- Well-equipped seaports- High-tech telecommunications in Malaysia provides subscribers for making options from five network service providers- Well-developed industrial parks- Technology Park and Hi-Tech Park cater to technology-intensive industries and R&D activities Education Literacy levels are high at 93%. Education is one area which is accorded high priority in national development with about 15% of total expenditure allocated for this purpose under Malaysia’s five-year development plan Tourism Malaysia’s policy strategies during the last decade have enhanced the development of its service sector including tourism industry. Malaysia’s service sector is the largest sector in the economy, contributing 52. ... l Source: Bank Negara Malaysia Annual Report 2000 RISK / REWARD ANALYSIS: SWOT ANALYSIS Strengths: l Miramar Express has a long history in Hong Kong. Renowned in doing traveling business l Financially backed up by Miramar Group which also has business in hotel management l Have partnership and network in other travel-related businesses in other countries Weaknesses: l Diving business is quite complicated and is new to Miramar and requires considerable commitment l Main rivals in Hong Kong like Hong Thai Travel and Wing On Travel which are the market leaders and win most of the market share l Lack of experiences in doing diving business as well as in the overseas Opportunities: l Diving business is promising as there is increasing number of people doing such kind of activity during vacation at overseas l Increasing number of Asian tourists and Australians visiting Southeast Asia in these two years because of close proximity (Business Asia, 2001) l In total, over 10 million tourists visited Malaysia in 2000, and up to 12.