- 2 days ago
Johor is betting big on tourism with Visit Johor Year (VJY) 2026 targeting 12 million visitors and RM42 billion in tourism receipts, positioning tourism as a growth lever for jobs, small businesses, and local incomes.
With the Johor–Singapore Special Economic Zone and the RTS Link expected by end-2026, cross-border movement will surge.
VJY 2026 aims to convert higher footfall into longer stays, higher tourism spend, and economic development for Johoreans.
Tehmina Kaoosji speaks to YB Raven Kumar Krishnasamy, Chair, Johor State Unity, Heritage and Culture Committee about the broader economic goals behind the campaign—job quality especially for youth, SME resilience, and how culture and heritage can translate into a lasting local tourismeconomy.
With the Johor–Singapore Special Economic Zone and the RTS Link expected by end-2026, cross-border movement will surge.
VJY 2026 aims to convert higher footfall into longer stays, higher tourism spend, and economic development for Johoreans.
Tehmina Kaoosji speaks to YB Raven Kumar Krishnasamy, Chair, Johor State Unity, Heritage and Culture Committee about the broader economic goals behind the campaign—job quality especially for youth, SME resilience, and how culture and heritage can translate into a lasting local tourismeconomy.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Hello and welcome to Nyaga Spotlight with me Tamina Kaosji. Nyaga Spotlight takes us through
00:12the week in economic analysis and future affairs. Today on future affairs, our spotlight is on
00:18Visit Johor year 2026, unlocking growth via tourism. Johor is preparing to do something
00:25ambitious with Visit Johor year 2026. The state has laid out some clear economic targets,
00:3112 million visitors, more than 100 programs and an estimated target for 42 billion ringgit in
00:38tourism receipts. All of this positioning tourism as a fast acting lever for growth at a time of
00:45major regional change. Now the timing is crucial as it moves beyond seasonal tourism campaigns
00:51or a calendar of events. By the end of 2026, Johor is also expecting two structural shifts to
00:57converge. This is the Johor Singapore Special Economic Zone, the JSSEZ, and of course the
01:03opening of the Johor Singapore RTS link. Together, this will reshape how people move, work, spend and
01:11invest across the causeway, bringing opportunity but also increasing pressure on labour, small
01:17businesses, housing and local costs. So the big question is not whether Johor can attract visitors,
01:24it is whether this growth can be absorbed well. Whether tourism demand strengthens the local supply
01:31chains, is supporting better jobs and also creating room for small community-based businesses,
01:37cultural workers and young entrepreneurs to grow alongside it. Tourism, when done right,
01:43can function like economic infrastructure. When done poorly, value of course leaks out,
01:49leaving behind low wages and short-term gains. This morning, we focus on how Johor is thinking
01:54about that balance with unity, culture and heritage at the core of the state's developing economic story,
02:02especially for Visit Johor Year 2026, VJY 2026. Joining me now in the studios is Yangbar Hormat,
02:09Ravan Kumar Krishnasamy, Johor State Executive Chair for Unity, Heritage and Culture for this very
02:15interesting discussion. A very good morning Yangbar Hormat, how are you doing?
02:20I'm excellent, good today.
02:22Fantastic. Thank you so much for making time, especially amidst the busy schedule of the launch
02:27of VJY 2026. Tell us a little bit first about how that went to kick off the new year.
02:33All right, okay. VJY visit Johor 2026. I think after the last visit Johor was done in 2003.
02:43Right, okay.
02:44It's about 20 years already. And as you know, Johor was not always a tourist, promoting tourist,
02:50but this time around under the leadership of Yangbar Hormat, on Hafiz Ghazi, we realised that not only
02:57economic growth, but also tourism sector and tourism industries plays an important role for Johor.
03:03And in that conjunction, we planned to do visit Johor 2026 this year. And when we begin doing
03:12visit Johor 2026, we realised that Johor needed a lot of improvement in infrastructure in all the
03:18tourist destination areas. Most of the tourist destination areas was outdated. The infra was
03:27not as good as what we expected it to be. But in the last three years, we worked hard improving the
03:32infrastructures. For example, Gunung Ledang is an iconic tourist destination. Right. But currently,
03:41we have to improve the infrastructure there. Tanjung Piai, we have improved the infrastructure there.
03:45Then we created new, new tourist destination places like Museum Toko, Complex Warisahan,
03:50Sungai Lebam, Sungai Melayu. All these are new tourist destination that we have created this year
03:55so that we can give better experience for tourists. Exactly. So there's a lot happening on the ground
04:02already. It's not that things started happening just with the launch at the beginning of this year,
04:08which was last week, Yangbar Hormat. So tell us a little bit more about how Johor State is now framing
04:15tourism as a positive economic push. Even though, of course, there's a tourism drive,
04:21but there's a wider, deeper thinking around this, right? Okay. Of course, when we look at all these
04:28places, when we improve all the infrastructure, it's going to be permanent. It's just not for 2026.
04:32Understood. Yes. That is really crucial. It's going to be permanent. So when it's permanent,
04:37we are making sure every local, especially the locals, right? You know, they gain their income.
04:45In that sense, we need to, through Johor Talent Development Council and the Johor State Government,
04:55we are going to create a centre of excellence for hospitality so that we can train the locals
05:00so that they can give a better service for tourists. And meantime, at the same time,
05:05expand their business. To look forward to how to expand the business. Because whenever there's
05:09a chain of tourism, because tourism is, we talk about tourism, the income is direct.
05:14Exactly. The benefit is really, very, truly direct. It is direct compared to when you talk
05:21about investment, it takes time and people invest and get a job. But tourism is direct
05:25in income. So now we're the centre of excellence. We want to train the locals so that they are
05:31up to mark when the tourists arrive and they will all be top-notch service that they can
05:37be given. Exactly. So that truly, I think, Yang Guhormat, it speaks to ensuring that Johorians
05:43are upskilled enough so that the tourism income is better distributed. It won't just be the existing
05:50large tourism operators who are going to benefit from the drive.
05:55True. Of course, when we look at all this drive that we're doing, we started, in Johor, we always
06:02do a lot of events and everything. And we talk about drive to help these locals. And Johor, up to now,
06:07recently, we have created Majestic Johor Festival, one of the iconic festivals that has always been done in Johor.
06:14Previously, it has been done in Johor Bahru. But starting from last year, we tried to do it in all the districts
06:21so that the locals will start... So all 10 districts then?
06:25All 10 districts will have the Majestic Johor Festival. And the finale will go back to JB. And that's when we have a grander scale.
06:32But we want to make sure the income flows goes to all the districts. And this is what we are talking about.
06:38And when we're talking about the improvement of infrastructure, it's not only focused on Johor Bahru. It's focused on all the other districts.
06:44Yeah, the district, Gunung Ledang is in Ledang, Gunung Ledang. Sungai Lebam is in Kota Tinggi. Tanjung Pia is in Pontean. So we are focusing on all the districts.
06:54Exactly. So that is truly talking about planning ahead, but also stress testing it before the launch this year.
07:01From there, could we move on into discussing a little bit more about the Johor Singapore Special Economic Zone, JSSEZ?
07:08So this, of course, got plenty of positive coverage during the launch last year in 2025.
07:14And together with the RTS link that will hopefully be opening by end of this year, there will be a lot more cross-border movement.
07:23Yeah. So preparing for that early in 2026. How is it going?
07:28So as we are preparing for the cross-border movement, as you know Johor Singapore, the cosplay is one of the busiest cosplays.
07:34Already the busiest, yes.
07:36So, of course, with RTS, it's going to ease the flow of movement.
07:40Correct.
07:41But without that, we have to also look at ETS, which is already completed between KL all the way to Johor Bahru.
07:50And it connects to a lot of smaller cities like Kluwang, it stops in Gamas, it stops in Skamad, and it goes to all the small cities.
07:57So it, in return, helps when people cross-border, for them to move around to all the smaller cities in an easier way, in a direct direction.
08:05So when they can move to the easier way, they can go in, feel the local tourism spots in their destination.
08:12Exactly. So feeling the local tourism spots and destinations, perhaps you could share with us a little about whether or not Johor is looking at developing day tourism, or is it also looking towards overnight stays, extended stays?
08:30Of course, if you look at Johor, you must look at geographically. Johor is next to Singapore.
08:36So we have two international gate airport cities, so it's called Changi Airport and KLI.
08:42That's right.
08:42So normally, when people, tourists travel, they travel from Singapore, they go all the way to KL, then fly out from KL, something like that.
08:48So we are trying to get, so that tourists will stay longer in Johor.
08:52So when we create this kind of destination, and with ETS up and running now, the smallest cities, like Skamad, the smaller cities like Kluwang, we will prefer them to stay overnight,
09:04so they enjoy the local cities and then continue their travelling.
09:09Exactly. And what is the hotel or hotel room capacity like looking currently?
09:15Currently in Johor, we have about 5,000 plus room capacity in Johor, so I think it's quite, we have enough rooms to accommodate all of them.
09:26Yeah, absolutely. So it also feels like, for example, once you have a more diversified visitor base coming in regularly to Johor,
09:37hopefully by Q2, Q3 you will have that, then perhaps there would be the issue of cost pressures.
09:44Any thoughts around managing that to ensure that it is still, it's affordable on one side, affordable enough for tourists, but at the same time, operators in tourism, they are making enough money.
09:59Okay, when we talk about, of course, the cost factor, whenever the place becomes vibrant, of course, everybody directly will increase the price,
10:06but as far as the state is concerned, we are trying to divide it to all the districts, so that everybody gets approved of it, and when it's divided and you give the chain to everybody,
10:16indirectly we give a healthy competition, and you have to create a healthy competition, I think, if it controls the cost price, when you have...
10:24Sufficient operators, right?
10:26If you want one person to monopolize, then that's when you cannot control the price, when you divide it and you have a lot of tourist destination spots, then maybe it's not monopolized and should be...
10:37Exactly. Settling back to what you were mentioning before, YB, which is that a lot of more smaller hubs in Johor are being identified and promoted as potential tourism revenue hubs,
10:52there's also the issue of making sure that there is product differentiation, meaning that tourists get a very unique experience going from district to district.
11:04Tell us a little bit more about that.
11:05Okay, when you talk about we want to give product differentiation, one of the ways that Johor is focusing currently, especially under the arts and culture,
11:13we're going to do Johor Cultural, the event called Johor Cultural, where we're going to be, every weekend, we're going to have cultural performance in every tourist spot destination.
11:22So, and this indirectly, this will be headed by the district officers, they will head it and they will get the local tourists to do the performance in the tourist spot.
11:36So, indirectly, this is where we're trying to create more venues for locals to do performance, to give the platform for them to do the performance locally.
11:47Exactly. So, that does seem like it will be something that develops as the year goes along.
11:54And there's culture, there's heritage, there's experiences.
11:58I think we'll go a little bit deeper into talking about how this can be real economic gain.
12:05Are there supports or grants that are being made available for these smaller operators?
12:10Currently, under Johor Tourism Development Council, we have been providing a lot of training grants and also training platform for them.
12:18So that we want the locals to level up their performances and also their services up to the level.
12:30Through Johor Tourism Development Council, we are doing the training, not only in Johor, but throughout the districts.
12:36And we can give them a better platform to do all the training grants.
12:41Absolutely. Thank you very much for the conversation and so far, Yambar Hormat.
12:45So, what we'll actually be focusing on in just a little bit more, we'll be looking a little bit deeper at the institutions which are available in Johor,
12:52such as Yaya San, Waris San Johor and a little bit more.
12:56All right, sure.
12:56All right. Well, don't go anywhere.
12:59We'll be right back with the rest of the interview on Niagara Spotlight with me, Tamina Kausji.
13:06Welcome back to Niagara Spotlight, still with me, Tamina Kausji.
13:23And today, all the focus is on Visit Johor Year 2026, VJY 2026 in the studio's lives.
13:30Yambar Hormat, now going a little bit deeper into, tell us about the history behind the Yaya San, Waris San, Johor
13:37and how it is playing an instrumental part in the rollout for VJY 2026 as well.
13:44Okay, Tamina, Yaya San, Waris San, Johor is the actual body that governs the cultural part of Johor.
13:50So, Yaya San, Waris San, Johor plays with the local community.
13:54So, they work along with the Majlis Keputayan Negeri Johor, Majlis Keputayan Daerah,
13:59where all the local tourism associations, especially cultural associations, are part of it.
14:05So, they work with all the local artists and local cultural assets and everybody.
14:13So, when Yaya San, Waris San, Johor, they have a complex Yaya San, Waris San, Johor.
14:17Complex Yaya San, Waris San, Johor is going to be a cultural hub in Johor.
14:21This cultural hub has been renewed.
14:23We are upgrading the cultural hub so that we can have a centralized cultural hub in Johor.
14:28Understood. All right.
14:30So, it's still in the process of being upgraded.
14:33It will be officially open in March this year.
14:35It's going to be officially, we are renovating it.
14:37It's going to be officially open in March this year.
14:39So, a few of the events that are going to take place where we are going to promote Zappin there.
14:45We are going to have places for people to do rehearsals, to do performances there.
14:49We are going to have places for people to demonstrate their art and culture there.
14:53Absolutely.
14:54So, it's all about creating the type of hub whereby you have cultural assets,
15:00but it also is able to develop into a parallel creative economy.
15:06Yeah.
15:06So, from there, I would like to, of course, pick your mind a little bit about cultural continuity.
15:15So, one issue that quite often comes up whenever we are talking about cultural and heritage-related topics
15:23is that it's the older generation who's involved.
15:27So, what movement are you seeing amongst the younger generation, the youth especially,
15:32when it comes to their interest in such tourism-related products?
15:37So, when we talk about, yeah, of course, when you talk about cultural activities,
15:40of course, you're talking about the senior citizens who are always engrossed in that.
15:44But what we can realise now, we see a lot of youngsters are coming up, especially in Zappin.
15:49See, like, in Johor, we have, like, about 17 times of Zappin.
15:53Right.
15:53And we realise, we see a lot of youngsters are coming up in Zappin.
15:57And recently, in Johor, during the Visit Johor campaign,
16:00we both, the Malaysian book of, of course, having the highest number of dancers performing Zappin at the same time.
16:06And at the same time, it's not only Zappin, but all the other smaller, like Gaza,
16:10all the other, we are also providing training, training platform.
16:15We're getting the seniors to come back, to provide classes for the youngsters to come in and train.
16:20So, that's where Complex Yaisan Warisan is going to be.
16:23We're going to have training place for them to train these youngsters,
16:27to give them a new platform to learn about the culture.
16:31And then they have a platform to move to the district where they, to Johor's culture,
16:35they can perform whatever they have learned.
16:38And in the meantime, so when they do this, one, we give them training,
16:41then we provide them the platform to do the performance indirectly to take up their interest in a different level.
16:49Exactly.
16:50So, it's all about ensuring that there's a regular calendar, perhaps.
16:54And perhaps for the students, specifically for Zappin,
16:58are there existing school partnerships or where do the students usually find out about such programs?
17:04Existingly, when we do Zappin, we have jobs,
17:08the Zappin Festival, where we have competition inter-school every year.
17:12We started last year and we're going to continue this year.
17:14And we send trainers to all the schools who are interested to train the players.
17:18Then we provide a platform for them to participate in the district,
17:22then coming up to the state level.
17:24Exactly.
17:25So, it's all about ensuring that there is a lot of local ownership around all of these issues.
17:31Then from there, YB, let's move into discussing how tourism jobs are quite often very seasonal and lower paid.
17:41What are some thoughts about your Exco around changing this paradigm, using 2026 as a starting point?
17:49So, of course, when you talk about tourism, the concept was it's a low-paying income and everything.
17:56But we are trying to change that.
17:58Quick gains, but maybe the rest of the year is low.
18:01So, we are trying to change it.
18:02It's like, for example, I will give you an example like in Mercing.
18:06Mercing is a tourist for island.
18:08So, it's based on monsoon season, during monsoon, there's not much income for them to do.
18:17So, let's say from now until about March, it's slow.
18:21It's slow.
18:22But we create new destinations, star-glazing in Mercing.
18:28This also is a new income coming up.
18:31Then Aipapan is a new place.
18:33Gunung Arong is a new place.
18:34So, we create this kind of new environment so that all these tourist places, they can interrelate and they have more options.
18:41At the same time, when we are talking about all these places that we have created,
18:45Museum Toko, Complex Warisan, Sungai Lebbang, Sungai Melayu,
18:49all these places, it's going to be there permanently.
18:51So, it's a new...
18:52Year-round as well.
18:53So, we have created a place where it's going to be permanently.
18:56It's just not for 2026, but it's going to be year-round.
18:59So, 2026 is just a starting point for them.
19:02But after that, it's going to be continuous for them.
19:05Exactly.
19:06So, I think what it speaks to is providing stable employment out of tourism products.
19:13And what has been the response like from the local communities?
19:17And how actually was the State Exco able to identify which areas could also have an introduction of,
19:26for example, you were saying star-gazing instead of only one product?
19:29Yeah.
19:30For example, another example, I would say Sungai Melayu.
19:33Sungai Melayu was an ecotourism village in JB.
19:37It's a small village where they did ecotourism.
19:40But currently, state government has spent about 12 point something million
19:43to improve the infra so that it becomes internationally recognized,
19:48so that the infras are good and the level of standards are high,
19:54so that the locals can improve it.
19:55Because we just improved the infra, but it's going to be managed by the locals.
19:59Understood.
20:00Exactly.
20:00Yeah, managed by the local, local.
20:02So, we're providing them training.
20:03We're providing them all sorts of avenues so that they will be up to the north.
20:08Mm, exactly.
20:10Which also tries to integrate perhaps younger workers.
20:13Yeah.
20:13Because what we see, of course, today that is really popular amongst the youth,
20:17naturally, is avenues such as the gig economy.
20:21Yeah.
20:21Tourism may not necessarily be top of mind for young workers,
20:26especially considering long hours, etc.
20:30Are you seeing in the areas where such programs have been introduced,
20:35there is interest among the youth as well?
20:37But we see that youth are becoming ambassadors for tourism indirectly
20:42because nowadays you look at the online where they promote food,
20:46they promote on destination.
20:48They're actually indirectly becoming ambassadors.
20:49Food or tourism influencers.
20:51Yeah, influencers.
20:52I would call them ambassadors for tourism because indirectly,
20:55a lot of youth are doing that and they're promoting themselves.
20:59But indirectly, they are learning about it.
21:02So, we are just making sure that they go in the right direction.
21:06So, we're creating the career path in the right way.
21:10Exactly.
21:10Because that also ensures in the medium to long term
21:13that you will have that talent remaining in state for an ecosystem.
21:18Okay.
21:19Perhaps when we look at the standards also,
21:23what would you say the wage benchmarks are looking like
21:27for people in the local tourism sector?
21:30Okay.
21:31When we created Johor, Singapore Special Economic Zone
21:34and when we created Johor Talent Development Council,
21:37one of the aims is to have the minimum wage rate
21:39where we want to bring up the minimum wage rate
21:42up to RM4,000 a month in the state of Johor.
21:45That's what we are trying hard.
21:48And if it goes to the tourism industry,
21:49we also want to do it up to that level
21:51because we are neighbouring to Singapore
21:54and with the currency exchange,
21:56a lot of people prefer to go to Singapore to work.
21:58So, when we can increase this level,
22:00it helps to sustain more people to work in Johor
22:03and live their life in Johor.
22:05So, this is what we are trying to achieve in Johor.
22:07So, not only in tourism, but all the other sectors as well.
22:10Exactly.
22:11And there's been about close to a year now
22:14since that initial announcement was made.
22:16What movement was State Exco able to observe
22:19when it came to encouraging?
22:22So, currently we are training
22:23and at the same time we are also talking to all the companies
22:27that investors are coming in
22:28so that they give better offers
22:30when it comes to the locals
22:31when they pay their price rate.
22:34So, we are actually making sure
22:35that we can do job matching.
22:38When we do the training, we can make sure we train them
22:41according to what they need
22:42of the investors coming into the state.
22:45And these clear career paths
22:47related to tourism in particular,
22:50are any of them involving more technical skills
22:54that are part of growth sectors?
22:57Of course, when you can't talk about technical skills,
23:00you need them to manage all the tourism.
23:02They need to be up to the level.
23:04They can't just be just a normal standard way
23:07of daily wage earners.
23:09They have to be growing themselves,
23:11especially in hospitality,
23:13especially in hotel industry,
23:15food and beverage.
23:16All these industries,
23:17you need them to be in the higher level.
23:20So, the training has to be done in proper way
23:22and they are paid accordingly.
23:24Exactly.
23:25So, this is of course something
23:26that will be phased as it moves along.
23:30So, now let's perhaps,
23:31as we look towards landing the discussion,
23:33Yangba Hurman,
23:34look at Beyond 2026.
23:38This is, of course, a long-term program
23:41and it is just anchored around
23:44tourism-related products
23:45for the start of this year until the end.
23:49Tell us more about what are the broader goals
23:52around also introducing tourism
23:54from an economic infrastructure viewpoint.
23:59For me, in the state of Johor especially,
24:02when we ventured into Visit Johor 2026,
24:06we brought in the idea
24:07when we are growing Johor economically,
24:10with Johor is growing.
24:11And when we are focusing on tourism,
24:13we are not only looking at 2026.
24:152026 at Visit Johor is just a starting point for us.
24:18So, at the beginning of the year,
24:19the conversation I said,
24:21the first three years,
24:23we were improving the infrastructure.
24:24We were building up a strong foundation.
24:27So, we have more tourists as places to visit.
24:31And we have more destination of visit in Johor
24:33to visit for tourists.
24:36Then we can be,
24:37we are training all this guy
24:38and they can continue to prosper in tourism.
24:42Exactly.
24:42And there is also a key around the SME survival
24:47because local SMEs, of course,
24:49form the absolute backbone.
24:51What kind of signals will the state ex-girl
24:54be looking at towards the end of the year
24:55to determine the health of the local SMEs
24:59as connected to the wider VJY 2026?
25:03So, when I'm looking at the local SMEs,
25:06when you look at the local SMEs,
25:07we want to make sure that they are given a platform
25:10to actually go into healthy competition.
25:13So, the most important thing in the state
25:15must provide them the good platform.
25:17The framework.
25:18Yeah, the framework and the platform
25:19for them to go into the healthy competition
25:21and stay there consistently
25:23and work towards driving to a successful 2026.
25:27Exactly.
25:28And also whether or not
25:29there will be more local operators
25:31that are created
25:31and who can sustain beyond the initial year as well.
25:35Yeah, it is.
25:35All right.
25:36Yang Bahramat, thank you very much
25:37for the discussion.
25:38And of course, we wish you all the very best
25:40with an upcoming, very hectic
25:42and also productive year.
25:44Thank you very much.
25:45Well, tourism can lift, of course,
25:47an economy or at the same time expose gaps.
25:50How Johor will be handling their costs,
25:52labour and local participation
25:54will truly shape what this moment
25:56around Visit Johor Year VJY 2026 becomes.
26:00Well, that's all we have time for today.
26:02I'm Tamina Kausch,
26:03signing off for now on Niagara Spotlight.
26:05We'll see you again next week
26:07with more economic analysis and insights.
26:10Here's to a productive week ahead.
Be the first to comment