Shangri-La Hotel does its part for VMY 2007

The atmosphere in the Shangri-la Hotel Kuala Lumpur lobby lounge was filled with joy and warmth on June 14.

A cultural troupe played traditional drums at the entrance to welcome guests while a group of ladies in different traditional costumes greeted everyone who walked into the hotel.

The special welcoming party was part of the Shangri-la Hotels and Resorts’ efforts to celebrate 50 years of nationhood and Visit Malaysia Year (VMY) 2007, in partnership with Tourism Ministry.

Innovative launch: Tengku Adnan (left)and Sekercioglu lighting up the miniature ‘Eye on Malaysia’ Ferris wheel to launch the event.

Among the steps taken to promote VMY 2007 are displaying VMY 2007 logo on the hotel and resort websites (which links to the VMY 2007 website), distributing special music CDs to hotel guests, dedicating a special VMY video channel in the hotel rooms and displaying mini leaflets about places of interest in Malaysia.

Shangri-la Hotels & Resorts vice-president Cetin Sekercioglu said: “Our main objective is to take Malaysia to the world and the world to Malaysia.”

Speaking at the launch of the celebration, Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor commended Shangri-la for its initiatives and hoped that other homegrown brands would be inspired to do the same.

“Promoting Malaysia as a tourism destination is a collaborative effort which needs the involvement and active participation of all concerned,” he said.

He said that Malaysia had 4.8 million visitors for the first quarter of 2007, compared with 4.4 million for the same period last year, representing an increase of 9.8%.

The promoting of VMY 2007 is done concurrently at the group’s 51 hotels worldwide while each Shangri-la hotel and resort in Malaysia would hold different promotions and activities.

For instance, Traders Hotel Kuala Lumpur is having “The Most Expensive Chicken Rice Experience” promotion, where guests would be taken to Ipoh in a private plane to enjoy authentic chicken rice.

Rasa Ria Resort Kota Kinabalu is hosting an array of cultural activities including congkak, blowpipe shooting competition, sarong wearing and cultural performances.

“We have received overwhelming response from our guests who hail from all over the world. They enjoy these activities,” its general manager Alain Borgers said.

For more information, visit www.shangri-la.com.

Source : STAR
[tags : malaysiahotelnews hotels malaysia resorts news travel tourism travel vmy2007]