Tourism Ministry must be more creative

Source : The Star Online
Classified : Opinion

BUDGET 2013 contains goodies to benefit all Malaysians, young and old. Even the tourism sector will benefit as the Prime Minister announced that tour operators handling at least 750 foreign tourists or 1,500 local tourists annually would enjoy a three-year income-tax exemption.

However, I am a bit confused by the statement from the Tourism Ministry about bringing international and world-class attractions into the country. We have our own tourism venues, and we should continue to promote these locations to lure local and foreign tourists.

Why should we bring in international attractions which will last for only a few days or weeks, before they pack up and return home?

Besides, if we want to attract foreign tourists by selling international acts (like acrobatics from China), the foreign tourists may as well visit China where they will be able to see more of these attractions.

We should be proud of our local attractions, and we should continue to promote our unique and cultural attributes.

The Tourism Ministry should in fact work together with our local tourist attractions by engaging local professionals with vast knowledge on how to improve our presentation to foreign tourists.

Our Tourism Ministry should be more creative. It’s time to look at long-term plans for the tourism industry.

CHAN POH AIK

Petaling Jaya



My Feedback on above Opinion

For me, Malaysia has whole package of tourism. About bringing international and world-class attractions into the country is not a bad idea. Tourism is not all about foreign tourist coming to Malaysia, but also include local tourist.

Sure we can find acrobatic things in China! And Tomyam in Thailand, Curry in India, Sushi in Japan!
The Unique of Malaysia is we can have bits of everything in here.

Basicly, International attraction surely benefit local tourist & business.

Tourism M'sia reaches out to schools, varsities

FRANFURT: Tourism Malaysia Frankfurt in efforts to promote Malaysia here, is reaching out to schools, universities and other institutions of learning.

Its director Syed Yahya Syed Othman said besides concentrating on the usual audience of travel agents, tour operators and the like, it is also reaching out to school-going children, who also exercised influence over their parents in the choice of tourist destinations.
"We are reaching out to school-children because these are young and enquiring minds. They will remember their school visit to Tourism Malaysia's Frankfurt office and also want to know more about Malaysia as they grow up. In effect, we are creating a new constituency of potential visitors to Malaysia for the future," he told Bernama here Tuesday.
Earlier, he received an unusual visit of a group of 21 students from the Frankfurt International School, aged between eight and 10, accompanied by four teachers, to find out more about Malaysia and its various tourist attractions.
"Many of them wanted to know if Malaysia had dolphins. They were apparently interested in Malaysia's wild life and nature. Orang utans seemed to be quite popular with them.

"One little girl wanted to know if we had elephants, tigers, etc. Another boy was, surprisingly, well aware of the Petronas twin towers and wanted to know more about Kuala Lumpur," he added.
Syed Yahya said the Tourism Malaysia Frankfurt office would also be organising a visit by a group of tourism students from the Cologne Business School to Malaysia in January, next year.
They will be visiting Malaysia for 10 to 12 days and while in Malaysia will be visiting the Universiti Teknologi Mara, Universiti Sains Malaysia and the Taylor College University in Kuala Lumpur, and will be visiting Langkawi and staying at a home-stay programme to get a feel of Malaysian life, he said.
He said that tourism traffic from Germany to Malaysia had posted a 7.2 percent growth in the first six months of 2012 compared with the same period last year.
Some 64,705 Germans visited Malaysia in the January-June period this year. -- BERNAMA


----------------------------

Pada saya program begini memang jadi tarikan pelancong terutamanya pelajar sekolah. Memang sekolah-sekolah di Europe selalu buat lawatan belajar ke negara orang tetapi biasanya diantara negara Europe jugalah. Contohnya kelab Bahasa Spanish akan buat lawatan ke Spain, Kelab bahasa French tentulah menjadikan Perancis destinasi mereka.

Dulu saya kerja sambilan di sekolah ini dan itulah 'typical' aktiviti. Antara sebab lainnya ialah penerbangan tambang murah yang banyak ditawarkan oleh Syarikat penerbangan Easyjet, Ryanair dan lain-lain.

Jadi, kalau lawatan ke Malaysia itu tentulah susah sikit nak dirancang kerana jarah perjalanan yang lama dan kos yang mahal. Tapi kalau bayar ikut Euro / Pounds rasanya tiada masalah..

Make Malaysia a cycling destination

I ECHO the call in “Shabery: Cycling gaining popularity” (The Star, Oct 10). I wish to see this as a way of life and the making of Malaysia a cycling destination.

For this to be realised, the Youth and Sports Ministry and the Tourism Ministry must work together to popularise cycling as a lifestyle.

Cycling, as a mode of transport has long been popular in small towns across the country, and as a sport, we have had tremendous world-class success.

Now, as a healthy pursuit and a new tourism product, it has shown some promising signs ahead, despite the lack of infrastructure like biking lanes and proper parking facilities.

Ever since biking was promoted as a tourism product by the Tourism Ministry, there’s been the sprouting of bicycle shops or boutique selling cycling outfits all over the country.

The craze seems to be catching on with youths and even the elderly, in their quest for thrills and adventure or a healthy lifestyle.

It has often been said that Malaysians do not exercise regularly to keep fit and healthy. This plus the alarming reports of obesity are best tackled by popularising this healthy outdoor activity.

On the sports front, the achievement of national track cyclist Azizul Hasni Awang at the recent London Olympics, proved that we’re on the right track for the Rio Olympics.

The same can be said of biking tourism where if promoted properly will generate more revenue for the tourism sector.

Tourism packages involving cycling will tend to create an “experiential” form of tourism, where visitors can get close to the local people and places of attractions at their own leisure and pace.

ZARI MALAYSIANA

Petaling Jaya

Source : The Star Online 12 October 2012

Bla bla bla : now cycling has become popular activities. I've seen growing numbers of cyclist night and day cycling around KL/Putrajaya.

Sarah Brightman, space tourist, hopes to sing on space station

Sarah Brightman, best known for her renditions of Andrew Lloyd Weber classics and a duet with Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli, has booked her ticket into space.
The 52-year-old British performer has purchased a ticket to fly to the International Space Station next year, BBC reported.

“This voyage is a product of a dream, my dream. Finally, it can be a reality. I am more excited about this than anything I have done in my life to date,” she said today in Moscow, according to BBC.
Brightman must prepare for six months next year at Star City cosmonaut training center in Russia.
She will become the seventh celebrity to embark on the voyage, according to BBC.
Brightman, who booked her trip through Vienna-based Space Adventures, and two others will fly aboard the Soyuz capsule.

The timing of the voyage has yet to be determined, but her training will begin after a 2013 tour to promote her album “Dreamchaser,” The Associated Press said.
Brightman is also a UNESCO ambassador, and she hinted she might perform in space to draw awareness to the cause, the AP said.

Brightman had to pass a physical and psychological exam in order to enter the training program.
One of her early hits was “I Lost My Heart to a Starship Trooper,” in 1978.
She also starred in Weber’s productions of “Cats” and “Phantom of the Opera” in London.
Weber and Brightman married in 1984, but divorced 6 years later.
The last famous space tourist was Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberte, who paid $35 million for his ticket.

http://youtu.be/7lnrN_VbP2Y


<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/7lnrN_VbP2Y" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Source : www.globalpost.com

Saya suka lagu Andrea Brocelli yang berduet dengan Sarah Brightman berjudul "Time to say Goodbye"


Famed British singer Sarah Brightman smiles during her press conference in Moscow on October 10, 2012. Brightman announced today in Moscow that she will blast off next year as a space tourist to the International Space Station (ANDREY SMIRNOV/AFP/Getty Images