French Tourist Loses Cash, Documents In Snatch Theft in Kota Baharu

A French tourist, who is on a mission to travel around the world, lost RM1,000 in cash and other belongings, including personal document, in a snatch theft here hours after arriving from Thailand on Tuesday night.

Barte Salome, 24, said she was walking with a friend at Jalan Pintu Pong here at 10pm when a man on a motorcycle snatched her hand bag.

Speaking to Bernama here, Salome, said apart from cash, she also lost a camera, passport, credit card as well as the key to a hotel in Thailand.

"I came here on the way to Pulau Perhentian in Terengganu," said Salome, who was still traumatised by the incident.

She reported the matter to the Kota Baharu police who brought her to the Tourism Malaysia office here where she was given a bus ticket to go to Kuala Lumpur to have her document processed at the French Embassy.

Tourism Malaysia Kelantan director Muhammad Zaki Talib said the office also provided her with some cash.

"I would like to thank Tourism Malaysia for its kindness," she said.

Muhammad Zaki said Tourism Malaysia sympathised with her predicament, saying he also felt embarrassed by the incident.

Salome said she hoped that the French Embassy would help her return to France.

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

Holiday Villa Alor Star enjoys improving business

HOLIDAY Villa Hotel & Suites Alor Star said its corporate business is improving as it has more European guests working for large companies there staying for a longer time.

General manager Azhar Mohammad said the business has been improving since 2008 despite the global economy downturn.

"We have guests who have been staying with us since 2008. Some companies are expanding so there will be more jobs. We expect our revenue and hotel occupancy to grow by 15 per cent this year," he said in an interview with Business Times in Alor Star.

The companies include MMC-Gamuda JV, the main contractor for the RM12.5 billion Ipoh-Padang Besar electrified double tracking project (EDTP), and Asian Composites Manufacturing, an alliance between Sime Darby Bhd, Naluri Bhd and Boeing and Hexcel Corp, which supplies parts for Boeing.

Last year, the 4-star 156-room hotel closed at an average of 55 per cent occupancy. Azhar declined to reveal the hotel's revenue.

Azhar said the biggest contributor going forward will be the double tracks, which will have high-speed trains cutting travel time by almost half from Ipoh in Perak to Padang Besar, near the Thailand border.

"Once the tracks are completed, we will have more business and leisure guests from Singapore, Thailand and the Klang Valley. We are raising room rates accordingly," he said.

The hotel's average room rate is RM170 a night and walk-in guests pay RM250.

"The public can't wait for the high-speed trains to run as it will reduce traffic and accidents on the highways. People who avoided travel to Kedah by car previously, now have a choice," Azhar said.

Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents (Matta) vice chairman (Kedah) for outbound and ticketing Dzaher Ahmad said the local tourism sector is set to boom thanks to the EDTP.

Dzaher said he expects more 3 and 4-star hotels to open in Kedah by 2013.

"With the high-speed trains running, we expect more tourists to come to Kedah. We have interesting places such as Bujang Valley, a sprawling historical complex, and Gunung Jerai, a massive limestone outcrop that rises 1200m above sea level.

"The world's longest canopy walk is located in Sg Sedim in Kulim and the biggest mangrove in Merbok," he said.

The EDTP involves the building of 329km of new electrified double tracks, replacing the existing single track. As at February 2010, the project is 38 per cent completed.

Source : BTimes
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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
[tags : malaysiahotelnews hotels malaysia resorts news travel tourism travel vmy2008]

VKY 2008 Targets Foreign Tourists

SEVERAL tourism promotion programmes have been carried out in foreign countries to attract tourists for Visit Kedah Year (VKY) 2008.

State Tourism, Youth and Sports Committee chairman Datuk Othman Aziz told the House that the state had allocated RM3mil for the promotional activities.

He said 18 tourism projects, costing RM69.8mil, were listed under the Ninth Malaysia Plan, of which only one at Sungai Merbok had taken off while the others were now open for tenders.

Replying Datuk Abdul Razak Hashim (BN – Guar Chempedak), he said the state had also allocated RM13mil to renovate facilities at Gunung Jerai.

He said construction work at the resort atop Gunung Jerai had started since March.

“All activities at the resort area on the mountain have been postponed until April next year when the construction work is expected to be completed,” he said.

Othman said there were more than 8,700 hotel rooms available to accommodate tourists next year, of which 7,500 were in Langkawi and 1,200 in Alor Star and Sungai Petani.

He said that the state Economic Planning Unit had also sorted out homestay facilities in Kedah to woo tourists.

Othman also said the two resorts at Pedu Lake, which were closed due to financial problems last year, would re-open early next year.

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

Fascinating Padi Festival at Kedah

TRADITION came alive during the two-day Kedah Padi Festival held on the muddy padi fields at the foothills of Gunung Keriang.

The weekend event, held in con-junction with the 79th birthday ce-lebration of Kedah Sultan Tuanku Abdul Halim Muad’zam Shah, attrac-ted thousands of people.

The festival was earlier declared open by the Sultan who was accom-panied by the Sultanah, Tuanku Haminah Hamidun.

Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid said the festival was held to showcase Kedah as the rice bowl of the country. It also gave tourists a glimpse of the traditional methods and tools used in the olden days to produce rice.

Traditional technique:Participants taking part in a fish catching competition using bamboo traps.

“Last year, we recorded 3.8 mil-lion tourists to Kedah, with over 2 million tourists visiting Langkawi. We want to promote the mainland as the premier destination for tou-rists in Visit Kedah Year 2008.

“A total RM7mil will be spent to develop a 12ha tourist village with traditional houses to accommodate tourists,” he added.

The festival got off to a colourful start with traditional, cultural and folk dances performed by the State Cultural Troupe.

Interesting events included an anok race (anok refers to a cart used to transport padi from the fields), trapping fish using a bamboo cage, a padi pounding demonstration and duck catching competition.

Briton Derek Brittain, 68, who had visited the country 12 times, said it was his first time at a padi festival and he found it fascinating. He had previously witnessed the Thaipusam festival and chingay performances.

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

Move to attract foreign tourists to southern Kedah

TOURISM Malaysia is promoting eco-tourism in the Kuala Muda and Yan districts in southern Kedah for the Visit Kedah 2008.

Kedah Director of Tourism Malaysia Ammar Abd Ghapar said eco-tourism products in the districts would appeal to foreign markets such as Thailand, Japan and Indonesia.

“We invited some foreign media from these regions to enjoy home stay projects and visit eco-tourism parks in Kuala Muda and Yan as part of our promotion drive.

“The foreign journalists really had a good time mingling with locals and absorbing their culture,” he said.

He said this after presenting prizes to local and foreign media participants of the Tourism Malaysia International Media Treasure Hunt Kedah 2007 at the Karnivall Water and Land of Excitement at Cinta Sayang Golf and Country Resort on Saturday.

A total of 250 foreign media participants in 70 vehicles took part in the treasure hunt, which covered among others, routes along Lembah Bujang Archeological Museum, Semeling Jetty and the Harvard Golf and Country Resort.

Also at the event, publisher Tunku Maziah Datuk Tunku Mokhtar from Leisure Guide Publishing Sdn Bhd presented 250 free copies of ‘The Guide To Malaysia’ to the foreign and local media.

She said she had submitted a proposal to the Tourism Ministry for the book to be adopted as an official guidebook to Malaysia by the Government.

For information on the 415-page book, visit http://www.gov.my , http://www.allmalaysia.info or http://www.malaysiamydestination.com

Source : STAR
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Tourist State Park Plan for Kedah

Kedah will transform potential tourism areas into state parks, said Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid.

He said the state government would set up a state park corporation to monitor and maintain the parks.

The corporation would identify potential tourism areas for the state parks, he said.

He said Ulu Muda, Pedu dam, Gunung Jerai, Sungai Merbok and several islands in Lang- kawi were among the areas with tourism potential identified so far for transformation into state parks.

“We will adopt the model for the state parks from other states,” he told newsmen after chairing the state exco meeting yesterday.

He said Kedah would gazette the identified areas as state parks next year.

On another issue, Mahdzir said RM48.4mil in allocation to maintain 10 industrial estates in Kedah had been approved.

He said RM10mil was for Kulim High-Tech Park while RM38.4mil was for nine other in-dustrial estates located in Kubang Pasu, Kota Star, Kuala Muda and Kulim districts.

“The allocation is for three years’ maintenance work.

“We will start with building and repairing roads, fixing road signs, lamp posts and food courts,” he said.

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