Kedah hopes to to achieve 4.2 million visitors with ASEAN help

The Kedah Government plans to cooperate with tourism players in ASEAN countries to attract more tourists.

Mohammad Radzhi Salleh (PKR-Lunas) said this was among the plans to achieve 4.2 million tourist arrivals to the state this year.

“We hope that by engaging assistance from tourism players in ASEAN, we can promote more state tourism products to foreign tourists,” he said, when answering a question from Mohd Rawi Abdul Hamid (BN-Ayer Hangat).

Mohamad Radzhi, who is the Tourism, Community Develop­ment and Human Resources Committee chairman, said the state achieved its target of bringing four million tourists to Kedah last year.

He said 75% of the tourists visiting the state last year spent between two and three days in Langkawi.

Meanwhile, the Industry and Investment, Agriculture and Agro-Based Industry, Biotechnology and Information Committee chairman Datuk Ir Amiruddin Hamzah (PAS-Anak Bukit) said that the state would prepare an action plan to attract more investors to the state.

He said that the plan included special incentives for investors that would be announced after a discussion with the Malaysian Industrial Development Authority (Mida).

Due to the current economic slowdown we would also consider allowing an extension of land assessment payment for investors based on cases.

We would also focus on improving maintenance at the industrial area and conduct training programmes for skilled workers, he said when answering a question from Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid (BN-Pedu).

Amiruddin said that the state spent about RM14mil to train skilled workers at the Kedah Industrial Skills and Management Development Centre (Kismec) in Sungai Petani.

Source : STAR
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