Three Million Tourist in Penang

Penang expects three million tourist arrivals

AN additional two million foreign tourists are expected to make a “beeline” to the Pearl of the Orient in conjunction with Visit Malaysia Year 2007.

State Tourism Committee chairman Teng Chang Yeow said this is about three times the number of arrivals recorded in Penang this year, adding that the Government is hoping to attract at least 20 million tourists to the whole country next year.

“An average of one million foreign tourists come to Penang annually and the figure will increase to three million next year.

“We are currently having rapid promotions in countries such as Singapore, India, the Philippines, Thailand and Aus-tralia which are our target countries.

“The state government will organise the World Music Fes-tival, Penang Bridge International Marathon and Penang Inter-national Dragon Boat Festival over the next 12 months to keep the tourists entertained.

NEW PLAYER:Teng signing a plaque at the newly opened In-Touch Travel and Tours.With him is company director Gary Cheah.“Musicians will make their way here after the Sarawak Rainforest Music Festival which is held in the middle of the year,” he said at the opening of In-Touch Travel and Tours Sdn Bhd in Lorong Selamat yesterday.

Teng added that local travel agencies were already gearing up for the influx of tourists and programmes such as ‘Malaysia Welcomes the World’ had been conducted to prepare the service industry.

“And to keep the tourists coming, about RM100mil allocated to the state under the Ninth Malaysia Plan will be spent over the next few years to upgrade and build tourism facilities.”
The state is targeting for 4.7 million tourist arrivals by the end of 2010 that can generate RM10.8bil in revenue.

News Source : STAR

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