Tourism Deputy Minister Datuk Donald Lim said, “Of the 43 million Germans who went on holiday last year, 66,000 visited Malaysia against 400,000 who went to Thailand and 150,000 to Singapore. I think we can do better.
“The race to attract tourists is getting more aggressive,” he said at the Internationale Tourismus Bourse (ITB) here, attended by over 180 countries.
The ITB is the world’s largest annual gathering of tourism industry players.
On Thursday night, Lim addressed a gathering of about 300 German tourism industry players at the “Malaysia, Truly Asia Evening.”
They were entertained by traditional dancers reflecting Malaysia's rich multi-ethnic heritage.
According to Malaysia Tourism Board director (Germany) Sharifah Loon Syed Danial, feedback from tour agencies in Germany showed that there was much scope for improvement in the Malaysian tourism sector.
Some said they did not have much knowledge of Malaysia and suggested for new products and attractions.
There were also complaints about the shortage of hotel rooms during peak season, she said.
In Petaling Jaya, Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor said the country expected 1.8 million tourists for this month and April.
Tengku Adnan said this was because of the F1 race held here during this period.
He said tourists arrivals for the month of March and April last year were 1.5mil and 1.4mil respectively, an increase of about 8% from 2005.
Source : STAR
[tags : malaysiahotelnews hotels malaysia resorts news travel tourism travel vmy2007]
No comments:
Post a Comment