{"id":54422,"date":"2026-05-22T15:36:38","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T07:36:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=54422"},"modified":"2026-05-22T15:36:38","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T07:36:38","slug":"malaysias-tourism-dependent-langkawi-fears-rising-costs-are-deterring-visitors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=54422","title":{"rendered":"Malaysia\u2019s tourism-dependent Langkawi fears rising costs are deterring visitors"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.i-scmp.com\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/1280x720\/public\/d8\/images\/canvas\/2026\/05\/22\/d784cdbd-10bf-43af-8c58-7798833ee503_63bcef0f.jpg?itok=KVy7xByI&amp;v=1779434124\" \/><\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">On Cenang Beach, Mohamad Zaki Najmi sells fun and adventure activities that have powered Langkawi\u2019s tourism economy for years \u2013 jet ski rides and boat tours on the Malaysian island\u2019s turquoise waters.<\/p>\n<div datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1xdhyk6 ec74h0k0\">But costs are rising fast at the popular island resort, and the sea sports operator has been forced to pass it on to his customers, a last resort for <span data-qa=\"Component-Text\" class=\"css-0 ef9u0v00\">tourism<\/span> players in <span data-qa=\"Component-Text\" class=\"css-0 ef9u0v00\">Malaysia<\/span> as competition for international visitors in Southeast Asia heats up.<\/div>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Higher fuel prices, triggered by the US-Israeli war on Iran, have forced Zaki to increase boat packages \u2013 a 30-minute ride now costs US$30, compared with US$25 previously.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">\u201cThe cost for operating boats and jet skis on the sea is higher than for regular vehicles on the road,\u201d the Langkawi resident said.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Zaki, who has operated Seeman Motorsport on Cenang Beach since 2006, is also experiencing another setback as tourist arrivals in Langkawi appear to have fallen in recent months.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">\u201cThere aren\u2019t many tourists these days, and we don\u2019t have set targets any more,\u201d Zaki said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/week-asia\/lifestyle-culture\/article\/3354496\/malaysias-tourism-dependent-langkawi-fears-rising-costs-are-deterring-visitors?utm_source=rss_feed\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article At Source <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On Cenang Beach, Mohamad Zaki Najmi sells fun and adventure activities that have powered Langkawi\u2019s tourism economy for years \u2013 jet ski rides and boat&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":54423,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4840],"tags":[4113,23241,5249,23240,4409,4142,23239,5783],"class_list":["post-54422","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel-globetrotting","tag-costs","tag-deterring","tag-fears","tag-langkawi","tag-malaysias","tag-rising","tag-tourismdependent","tag-visitors","wpcat-4840-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54422","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=54422"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54422\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/54423"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=54422"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=54422"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=54422"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}