MATTA: KL is among the safest and most liberal city

PETALING JAYA: Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents (Matta) has refuted allegations that crime and conservative image are hurting the Malaysia tourism.
Instead, Matta president Datuk Hamzah Rahmat said Kuala Lumpur is one of the most popular and safest cities as some 12 million foreign visitors are expected to visit the city this year.
"The allegations were made by a speaker at the Global Tourism Cities Conference 2016, based on a sourced article from another website that ranked the most dangerous cities in Asia based on input by visitors to the website and software to crunch numbers.
"Therefore, it does not reflect the real scenario as it was not produced from official statistics or comprehensive studies," Hamzah said in a statement.
He added that even the Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar had said that it was an unfair and lopsided claim to label Kuala Lumpur as among the most dangerous cities in Asia given that tourists could freely and safely walk the streets without any incident.
"Isolated cases of few tourists falling victims to crime does not make a city among the most dangerous in Asia," he explained.
He said that the last thing we need is to adopt a siege mentality and go on a defensive to counter perceived threats because such self-fulfilling prophecy would pose a greater danger.