In support of inbound tourism
Visa has announced its partnership with Mid Valley Megamall. At the event, (from left) Ng, Tourism Malaysia Package Development Division director Syed Yahya Syed Othman, Tourism Malaysia Package Development Division Secretariat Shopping Malaysia head, Norliza Md Zain and Mid Valley City chief executive officer Daniel Yong.
KUALA LUMPUR: In support of Visit Malaysia 2020, and its target of achieving 30 million international tourist arrivals, Visa has unrolled a series of initiatives to promote inbound tourism.
“We have year-long promotions and offers in various parts of Malaysia including Klang Valley, Johor Baru and Penang. Visa cardholders can enjoy discounts and benefits at family attractions such as Legoland, Desaru Coast Adventure Waterpark, and KidZania, other outlets like BH Petrol and Swarovski, as well as hospitals such as ParkCity Medical Centre and Subang Jaya Medical Centre,” says Visa country manager for Malaysia, Ng Kong Boon.
Aside from establishing partnerships with such attractions, hotels and dining outlets, the company has also established tie-ups with major shopping malls to roll out attractive promotions in an effort to play its part in promoting Visit Malaysia 2020.
To this end, Visa has announced its partnership with Mid Valley Megamall in Kuala Lumpur recently on Dec 12. Being the world’s leader in digital payments, this partnership seeks to encourage tourists to use digital payment for their purchases during the festive season.
With this campaign Visa cardholders can make payment with their contactless card for purchases made at Mid Valley Megamall here and The Mall, Mid Valley Southkey, Johor Baru, to be eligible for redemption gifts. To sweeten the deal, when they shop on Friday, Saturday or Sunday and on the eve of public holidays and on public holidays, they will also receive eco-friendly metal straws and pans as giveaways for transactions about RM200 and RM350 respectively.
For the upcoming Chinese New Year celebration, Visa and Mid Valley will be introducing another campaign from Jan 5, 2020 to Feb 2, 2020 where Visa cardholders will receive Toys “R” Us vouchers when they spend minimum RM350 with their contactless cards.
Ng notes a tremendous growth in adoption of digital payment.
Visa cardholders in Melaka are also in for a treat as Visa has also partnered with Dataran Pahlawan Melaka Megamall, Terminal Pahlawan and Hatten Square. From now till Jan 2, 2020 Visa cardholders will receive a specially designed Barbie canvas shopping bag when they spend minimum RM300 using their contactless cards.
According to Ng, this is part of the effort to propel adoption of digital payment, which has seen a tremendous growth due to the introduction of e-wallets. Furthermore, digital payments are a more convenient and safe way to making payment, as no physical cash is involved and tourists do not need to walk around with a big amount of local currency.
“Many people have the impression that the exchange rate applied when using their cards to make payment in a foreign currency is not as good as what they can get at a money changer. However, this is not necessarily true, as the exchange rate offered by the banks are just as competitive.
“We are extremely excited to promote Malaysia as a tourist destination, especially to our neighbours in Asia Pacific. Based on our data, Singaporeans, Indonesians and the Chinese are the top spenders when they travel to Malaysia. During this festive period, we are partnering with malls frequented by tourists to encourage them to use their payment cards, particularly contactless payments, when they make their purchases here. These promotions are designed to help boost tourism spend as part of the Visit Malaysia 2020 campaign, “ Ng said.
~The Star~
Tuba Island to be turned into travel hotspot
The Rural Development Ministry intends to turn Tuba Island here into one of the rural tourism destinations for the northern states.
For a start, it would focus on upgrading projects in Desa Keda Teluk Berembang with an allocation of RM2mil to develop the infrastructure there, said its minister Datuk Seri Rina Mohd Harun.
“We want to paint the houses around here in bright colours to make them more colourful and livelier, and of course we want to help increase the income of residents, ” she said.
She said that some sectors could be developed for tourism.
“We will start at Kampung Teluk Berembang first and then we will extend to the whole of Tuba Island, ” she told reporters after a working visit to the island yesterday.
Rina said there were a number of tourism products on the island, including sea products that could be used to make handicraft apart from keropok lekor and fish farming.
There are nearly 5,000 residents from seven villages living on Tuba Island, which is located about 5km from the Kuah jetty.A total of 40 houses in Desa Keda Teluk Berembang are involved in the Colourful House project. — Bernama
Nasi Goreng Pattaya, or simply nasi pattaya, is a Southeast Asian fried rice dish made by covering or wrapping chicken fried rice, in thin fried egg or omelette. Despite its name, the dish is believed to originate from Malaysia, and today is also commonly found in Indonesia and Singapore. It is often served with chili sauce, tomato ketchup, slices of cucumber, and keropok. ~wikipedia~
A friendlier Immigration experience Immigration officers will be taught basic Mandarin and other essential languages in an effort to provide a friendlier service at the country’s entry points. Besides easing communication, Immigration Department director-general Datuk Khairul Dzaimee Daud (pic) said the move was also made in conjunction with the Visit Malaysia 2020 campaign. “As part of our ongoing effort to improve the Immigration Department, we want to enhance our counter service, especially at the KLIA (KL International Airport) and other airports. “Our officers must provide a friendly service because they are our visitors’ first impression of the country when they arrive. “Those who are stationed at counters will be taught a basic level of Mandarin and other languages to help ease communication, ” he said in an interview ahead of the Immigration Department Day celebrations today. Khairul Dzaimee, who took over the helm of the department in January this year, said one of his focus areas was personal development for all his officers. “For me, training and upskilling of our officers is a very important aspect. “This year, we increased the training period for our cadet officers to four months. “As for existing officers, they, too, will be required to attend intensive courses to improve themselves, ” he said. He also spoke on instilling integrity among Immigration officers. “My wish is for the Immigration Department to be an enforcement agency that is respected by all because of the integrity of our officers, ” he added. Besides training, Khairul Dzaimee said the department would also beef up its enforcement operations. “When I inherited the department, we already had a policy where there is no day without an enforcement operation. “I continued that policy and we intend to increase it further. “With the Back For Good (B4G) amnesty programme ending on Dec 31, we will ensure that on Jan 1 we will go ahead with our enforcement efforts on a massive scale. “There will be no compromise for illegal immigrants who are caught after the programme, ” he said. Khairul Dzaimee also said the department did not intend to extend the deadline of the Back For Good programme. “As we are approaching the deadline, we see the queues at the Immigration Department getting longer and we expect this to increase further. “To accommodate this, we have extended our operating hours from 5pm to 10pm on weekdays. We also open on Saturdays until 3pm. “However, the Home Ministry has made it clear that there will be no extension of the Dec 31 deadline, ” he added. The B4G programme was introduced this year as an effort to reduce the number of illegal immigrants in the country. Under the programme, illegal immigrants are allowed to return home without punishment as long as they pay a RM700 compound and can produce flight tickets. On the Immigration Department Day celebrations, Khairul Dzaimee said for the first time, the department would honour outstanding officers with medals. The department would also be giving out a special award to an individual for his lifelong contribution to the department. ~The Star~
Malaysia records more than 20 million tourists in first 9 months of 2019 Malaysia saw positive growth in the tourism sector in the first half of this year, boosted by stronger international tourist arrivals. International tourist arrivals stood at 20,109,203 tourists between January and September, an increase of 3.7 per cent, compared to 19,386,115 visitors during the same period last year. Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Datuk Mohamaddin Ketapi said the top 10 countries with the highest contribution of tourist arrivals was Singapore with 7,868,755 visitors, followed by Indonesia (2,792,776); China (2,413,956); Thailand (1,442,224); Brunei (929,789); India (539,167); South Korea (508,080); Vietnam (323,393); Japan (321,283) and the Philippines (317,294). “Tourist receipts for the same period in 2019 reached RM66.14 billion compared to RM61.85 billion for the same period in 2018, indicating an increase of 6.9 per cent. “The main contributors to the tourist expenditure were Singapore (RM16.3 billion), China (RM12.8 billion), Indonesia (RM8.8 billion), Thailand (RM2.8 billion) and India (RM2.5 billion). “Per capita expenditure for the period of January to September also grew by 3.1 per cent from RM3,190.5 to RM3,289.3,” he said today in announcing the third quarter performance of the tourism sector. Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Datuk Mohamaddin Ketapi left). - NSTP/LUQMAN HAKIM ZUBIR. The short haul market, Mohamaddin said, had retained its position as the largest contributor of tourists to Malaysia with a share of 68.7 per cent. The contribution of tourists from the medium haul market was 21.6 per cent, while the share of tourists from the long haul market was 9.7 per cent, he added. “The highest per capita according to market distance saw Saudi Arabia recording the most for long haul at RM11,394.4; China at RM5,301.5 for medium haul and Vietnam at RM3,356.3 for short haul.” The minister also said the haze which had shrouded Malaysia and neighbouring countries such as Singapore, Thailand and Brunei had affected the momentum of tourist arrivals. “I believe the tourist arrivals could be better without the haze.” Tourism Malaysia director-general Datuk Musa Yusof said he believed that Malaysia would be able to achieve this year’s tourist arrival target of 28 million. He said there would be a significant number of tourist arrivals towards the year end, especially in December from countries experiencing winter. Malaysia normally records about 2.5 million tourist arrivals in Dec. On tourist arrivals from China, Musa said Malaysia was still favoured by visitors from the country. ~New Straits Times~
Decision on Airbnb next year, says Tourism D-G Tourism Malaysia director-general Datuk Musa Yusof said to address the problem, the committee would continue to discuss the issue to find suitable solution. -BERNAMA The task force on short-term residential accommodation, Airbnb will announce its decision by early next year, Tourism Malaysia director-general Datuk Musa Yusof said today. He said the task force was set up to regulate Airbnb accommodations nationwide and would take note of examples from other countries such as France, Singapore and Japan. “We will look into the issue. What we have implemented throu\gh the Tourism, Arts and Culture Ministry and the agency under the Housing and Local Government Ministry, is that we already set up a task force to look at what other countries have implemented in terms of Airbnb-type rentals. “We expect to announce the decision early next year and it needs to be regulated. For example, in some locations, Airbnb accommodations are allowed but not in the big cities where there are hotels available,” he told reporters after launching the Visit Malaysia (VMY) 2020 Kick Off conference here today. He said this in response to complaints made by hoteliers who claimed of experiencing a decline in occupancy rate despite the high number of tourists arriving in the country as most of them were choosing Airbnb. Musa said to address the problem, the committee would continue to discuss the issue to find suitable solution. “The concept of Airbnb in Europe and the US are different than it is in Asia. The Airbnb accommodations that I used to stay at, either in Europe or in the US, the guests stayed with the hosts, and we already have this concept here for the past 30 years and we call it homestay. Homestay is more for the experiences while Airbnb is more of an accommodation. Only in Malaysia, the visitors are not staying with the owner and this will be regulated,” he said. He said the matter would be looked at as a whole as there were several joint management bodies had disallowed Airbnb to operate in the condominium building as it was viewed as disruption. Meanwhile, commenting on the conference, he said it was launched to further promote the promotional activities of the VMY 2020 campaign in the northern states. -- Bernama
Malaysia-Thai border trial extended
New gateway: The newly-built CIQ checkpoint in Sadao will be open 24 hours for cargo traffic travelling between Malaysia and Thailand.
KUALA LUMPUR: The Bukit Kayu Hitam-Sadao Customs, Immigration and Quarantine (CIQ) checkpoint will operate round-the-clock well into 2020 with Malaysia and Thailand extending the three-month trial period.
The checkpoint, which opened for 24 hours to cargo traffic on June 17, will remain so until June next year to prolong the trial period to one year.
“This will be a boon to businesses and cargo transport operators on both sides of the border,” said Thai Ambassador to Malaysia Narong Sasitorn.
“We have observed more trucks coming into Thailand from Malaysia during the extended hours.
“From the Thai side there has not been a significant increase, so we need to create more awareness,” he said in an interview.
Both governments had decided earlier to open the checkpoint for 24 hours for three months from April 1, but the move was delayed as the Thais wanted more time to prepare.
Border connectivity was key on the agenda when Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad met his Thai counterpart Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha for talks in Bangkok last October.
Following the prime ministerial initiative, both foreign ministers met in the Thai capital in January to reach an agreement to open the border for 24 hours, from the previous 18-hour operation, on a three-month trial basis.
The extra hours are aimed at reducing congestion at the border where there are bottlenecks during rush hour.
Narong said promoting seamless border connectivity remained a top priority to enable businesses on both sides to have complete flexibility to pick the right time to transport their goods and ensure more cost-efficient logistics.
He said latest statistics showed that the number of trucks passing through the Sadao CIQ complex (both ways) was between 12,000 and 13,000 per month, but added that the utilisation of the extra hours was still very low.
During the extended operating hours at the Sadao checkpoint (11pm to 5am Thai time) in June, he said inbound cargo traffic from Bukit Kayu Hitam registered a 2.5% increase, followed by 0.67% (July), 0.56% (August), 0.16% (September) and 0.30% (October).
“The technical team is continuing to monitor the developments at the shared border.
“On my part, I have been in touch with the Songhkla vice-governor to spur things on,” the envoy added.
Narong said the new Sadao CIQ complex was near completion and scheduled to be operational by the first quarter of 2020.
He said a decision on the building of a new road alignment to link the US$78mil (RM315mil) complex with the Bukit Kayu Hitam Immigration, Customs, Quarantine and Security (ICQS) complex was still pending.
“We have presented two proposals to Malaysia, which has come up with its own suggestion. We need to finalise this to prepare for the opening of the Sadao complex.
“Without a new road alignment, we will have to rely on the existing route.
“But this will not resolve the congestion and bottleneck situation at peak hours with more lorries and trucks waiting to cross,” he said, adding that a single inspection facility for all trucks, now randomly inspected at least twice – once in Thailand and in Malaysia – was being explored.
Narong said he had also met Works Minister Baru Bian on the proposals to build a bridge to connect Takbai in Narathiwat to Pengkalan Kubor in Tumpat, Kelantan, and another linking Rantau Panjang, Pasir Mas, to Sungai Golok, also in Narathiwat.
He said the Takbai-Pengkalan Kubor bridge would span 270m and have four lanes.
“If the roads connecting both ends of the bridge are included, the total length of the project will be 10.6km.
“This bridge is long overdue. The economic benefits are indeed immense. Thailand had already proposed the engineering design some years back,” he said.
~The Star~
Overload caused KTM server crash
KTM Bhd (KTMB) attributed “overwhelming demand” for ETS tickets that caused its ticketing servers to crash on Monday, frustrating tens of thousands of commuters.
The deluge, according to KTMB chief executive officer Datuk Kamarulzaman Zainal, came from the combination of demand associated with year-end school holidays, Christmas, Chinese New Year and Thaipusam, all of which was taking place from December until the end of February.
“We used to sell our tickets on a month-to-month basis but as we managed to secure a confirmed schedule from the contractor of the Klang Valley Double Track (KVDT) rehabilitation, we decided to open up the sale for the three-month block,” he told a press conference.
The KVDT rehabilitation is a massive project that had caused severe disruption to KTMB’s services running within the Klang Valley over the past few years as cargo, intercity, Komuter and ETS trains share either a pair of tracks and at work bottlenecks, only a single track.
Kamarulzaman said KTMB did its calculations before opening for the three-month block for sale on Monday.
“By our estimation, the ticketing system is supposed to be able to deal with the load,” he said adding that KTMB was also saddled with a “legacy” IT infrastructure that was purchased in 2000.
“It took up to 30 minutes to sell one ticket on Monday, and yesterday the time dropped to two minutes.
“We are truly sorry our customers had such an unpleasant experience,” he said, adding that the improvement was the result of several quick measures that were immediately implemented to address the situation.
Firstly, KTMB increased the bandwidth to its servers from 100Mbps to 200Mbps and secondly, it increased the number of central processing units used in its servers from 10 to 15.
For a longer-term solution, KTMB is embarking on a drive to embrace full digitisation of its infrastructure and services with substantial progress to be seen by the third quarter of next year.
“We already have a consultant studying our system so that it could be revamped.
“We expect to use ticketing systems that are on par with those used in aviation ticketing, as far as stability and reliability are concerned,” he said, adding that KTMB’s servers recorded nearly 400,000 users when sales opened, causing severe congestion.
Despite the chaos, KTMB still managed to sell up to 57,000 tickets by 10pm on Monday, with popular destinations being mostly north-bound, to places like Butterworth and Padang Besar.
A survey by The Star at KL Sentral yesterday found that a sense of calm had returned to the ticketing counters, with customers queuing calmly and orderly. In Putrajaya, Transport Minister Anthony Loke expressed regret over Monday’s incident and said a substantial revamp of the ticketing system, which has weaknesses, was required.
“To this end, the ministry has directed KTMB to take remedial measures,” he said after attending a conference on bus rapid transit organised by Volvo Buses, Technology Depository Agency and Prasarana Malaysia Bhd.
~The Star~
Common signs 常见标语 BUKA Open 开 TUTUP Closed 关 MASUK Entrance 入口 KELUAR Exit 出口 TOLAK Push推 TARIK Pull 拉 TANDAS Toilet 厕所 LELAKI Men 男 WANITA / PEREMPUAN Women 女 DILARANG MASUK No Entry 不能进入 DILARANG MEROKOK No Smoking 不能抽烟 JALAN SEHALA One way traffic 单行道
Tourism Malaysia ties up with Expedia PUTRAJAYA: Tourism Malaysia has inked a deal with American travel company Expedia Group which will see both sides collaborate to boost tourism promotion to Malaysia. Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Datuk Mohamaddin Ketapi said the partnership with Expedia will help support Malaysia’s target of achieving 30 million tourist arrivals and RM100bil tourist spending by 2020. “Malaysia has just launched its fifth instalment of the Visit Malaysia series, Visit Malaysia 2020, and this is a timely strategic partnership which will benefit all parties. “Expedia Group, as many of you would know, has over 200 travel booking websites in more than 70 countries around the world and work with thousands of lodging and flight partners to cater to the differing needs of modern travellers today. “This partnership will collectively promote travel to Malaysia hence helping us grow our tourism arrival and income, empower our hospitality industry to be equipped with the right tools and services to help them grow their business locally, and be seen as a beacon in the sustainable tourism space, ” said Mohamaddin in his speech at the signing ceremony of the new collaboration, held at his ministry yesterday. Mohamaddin said one of the agreements between Tourism Malaysia and Expedia Group will be focused on several global campaigns to promote inbound travel from the United States, Australia and Japan to Malaysia. The three countries are among the biggest points of sale for Expedia Group. “This partnership will see a joint execution of destination marketing campaigns to spotlight Malaysia’s hidden and unique tourist attractions as well as promote the variety of accommodation to Expedia Group’s 750 million plus monthly visitors globally, ” said Mohamaddin. The collaboration will also see Expedia Group and Tourism Malaysia exchanging traveller insights, to help better understand tourist behaviours and home tourism strategies in line with the implementation of Visit Malaysia. Expedia Group senior vice-president of commercial strategy and services Greg Schulze said the company found Malaysia to be a “progressively thinking destination” and was committed to help expose the country to travellers around the world. “Tourism is an important contributor to Malaysia’s economy, accounting for almost 14.9% of the GDP (Gross Domestic Product) and 3.4 million jobs. “As a world travel platform, Expedia Group is proud to be an online travel tourism partner to Tourism Malaysia, connecting Malaysia’s tourism industry to millions of travellers in our worldwide network, ” he said. Among the travel websites under Expedia Group include Expedia.com, Trivago and Hotels.com. ~The Star~
Air quality worsens slightly in the country The air quality in Peninsular Malaysia has worsened slightly with Rompin in Pahang Air Pollutant Index (API) readings jumping from “unhealthy” to “very unhealthy” zone. According to Department of Environment (DOE) data, the API recorded in Rompin was at 223 as at 4pm, yesterday. On Saturday, Rompin’s API was “unhealthy” at 125. Conditions in Kuala Lumpur remained at moderate levels during the weekend, with the API at between 65 and 67. In Selangor, Johan Setia saw a slight increase in the API readings. The reading recorded was at 95 compared to 92 on Saturday. Other areas in Selangor such as in Banting (82), Petaling Jaya (81), and Shah Alam (83) maintained its “moderate” readings. The API readings in Kedah and Perlis also worsened from “good” to “moderate”, while Sabah maintained its “good” API readings. Other places nationwide such as in Negri Sembilan, Johor, Perak, Penang, Kelantan and Terengganu recorded “moderate” API levels. Meanwhile, in Sarawak, Sri Aman posted an API reading of 252 and generally the haze situation here and in Miri is still bad. The API reading worsened compared to Saturday which was at 247. The air quality in SK Kuala Baram 2 station and the Miri Industrial Training Institute station both improved. SK Kuala Baram 2 station recorded an API reading of 80 from 119, while the Miri Industrial Training Institute station recorded a reading of 161 from 222. As of yesterday morning, the DOE recorded one “hot spot” (forest fire) in Sarawak An API reading of between 0 and 50 is good, while 51 to 100 is moderate, 01 to 200 is unhealthy, 201 to 300 very unhealthy, and 301 and above is deemed hazardous. The public can also refer to the Department of Environment (DoE) website at or by downloading the MyIPU smartphone app on ‘Google Play’ to get hourly API readings According to the Asean Specialised Meterological Centre (ASMC) weather and haze outlook posted on Saturday at 6.25pm, it noted that hotspot activities in Sumatra and Kalimantan are likely to persist in the country. ASMC’s satellite monitoring system has also indicated in recent times that open burning is also coming from that direction. ~News courtesy of The Star~
A passion for porcupines prompts man to start Sik zoo
Fascinated by porcupines, Mahadzir Abd Hamid, 44, started a Landak Raya (Malayan porcupine) Sanctuary and Breeding Centre in Kampung Tala, Jeneri in 2017 and recently added a mini zoo as well.
He told reporters that to get going on the sanctuary wasn’t easy because first and foremost, one would need a Department of Wildlife and National Parks (Perhilitan) permit. Of the mini zoo which opened about three months ago with 30 porcupines, he said: "I built it to enable people to get a closer look at a creature some may have not seen before.”
“What’s special is no entry fee is charged and visitors get to learn about how porcupines are bred and fed, with offspring kept in a separate enclosure,” he said of the attraction which largely draws visitors during the school holidays.
“At first I had three porcupines and rearing them was just a hobby. Then, when I learnt about their potential and in order to protect them from extinction, I decided to add to the number.
“Alhamdulillah, all of them are healthy and breeding well,” he said of the sanctuary where over 100 of the prickly creatures can be found and which is open to the public every day except Friday.
-- BERNAMA
Hot and dry weather in M'sia until October, says the weatherman
KUALA LUMPUR (Bernama): Malaysia is expected to experience hot and dry weather with less rainfall until October, says Deputy Energy, Science, Technology, Environment and Climate Change Minister Isnaraissah Munirah Majilis. She said apart from Malaysia, neighbouring countries Singapore and Sumatra in Indonesia are expected to experience the same weather pattern. "We expect to experience a shortage of rainfall with warmer and drier weather this year without the El Nino and La Nina phenomena until October, " she said when asked about the essence of the 21st Technical Working Group (TWG) Meeting and the Ministerial Steering Committee Sub-Region on Cross-border Haze Pollution in Brunei. She said this when contacted on the Bernama News Channel (BNC) talk showroom programme here Wednesday (Aug 7) night. Commenting on the meeting, Isnaraissah said the five countries involved had presented measures taken to address fires and haze in their respective countries. "Among the information shared was to carry out continuous monitoring of weather and hotspots, enforce the law and have the equipment prepared, mobilise human resources and co-ordinate fire-fighting, " she said. The annual meeting involving four other Asean countries, Brunei, Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand, was held to monitor and detail the steps taken in addressing cross-border haze. The initiative to address the Asean haze problem began following a serious episode of pollution in 1997 that led to the Asean Convention on cross-border haze signed by 10 countries in Kuala Lumpur on June 10, 2002. - Bernama
Tourism Langkawi, Malindo Air to launch promotion to lure tourists from Phuket
Tourism Langkawi, a local tourism development organisation, in collaboration with Malindo Air, will launch a promotion to introduce tourism products and hotel accommodation offered by its members, to lure tourists from Phuket to the island, next month.
Langkawi Tourism president Ahmad Phisol Ishak said Malindo Air’s Langkawi-Phuket-Langkawi direct flights had opened up a huge opportunity for the island’s tourism sector as it would ease the travel of visitors.
“Fifteen members of Langkawi Tourism comprising travel agents, hotel and tourism product operators are joining forces with Malindo Air to launch the promotion at Langkawi International Airport on Sept 2. “We want to take this opportunity to attract more tourists from Phuket. During the launching ceremony, representatives from 10 travel agents and three media organisations in Thailand will also be flown in as part of the promotion.”
He said this when met after chairing a meeting with Malindo Air's North and Central Malaysia manager Arasu Soundarajan and members of Tourism Langkawi at Ombak Villa Langkawi here today.
Ahmad Phisol said the promotion was also being held as a result of positive feedback received by the organisation following the Tourism Langkawi products engagement mission in Phuket from July 19-22.
“The mission was very successful, Tourism Langkawi with Malindo Air received positive feedback on what we were able to offer as a result of the meeting with 25 travel agents there. Furthermore, we see Phuket as an attraction not only for Thai tourists but also from Europe and China,“ he said.
Meanwhile, Arasu Soundarajan said the airlines hoped the cooperation and the promotion would increase the number of passengers on its Langkawi-Phuket-Langkawi sector.
“We hope to push our load through this collaboration with the marketing support from Tourism Langkawi. Through this campaign, we can offer special fares to travel agents offering hotel packages,” he said.
Malindo Air has been offering flights for the Langkawi-Phuket-Langkawi sector every Monday, Wednesday and Friday since March.
-- BERNAMA
