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~
NETS payment now available in KL, Melaka and Penang
Singaporean shoppers headed to Kuala Lumpur, Penang and Melaka will now be able to make purchases with their NETS ATM card.
The number of NETS acceptance points across Malaysia have increased from 4,500 to 7,400 points, and they can now be found in the three major cities in addition to Johor Bahru, said NETS and its Malaysian counterpart Payment Network Malaysia (PayNet) on Friday (Nov 29).
The service has expanded since it was first introduced in November 2018, when NETS said that Singapore consumers could use their NETS ATM cards in Johor Bahru malls like JB City Square, Sutera Mall and KSL City Mall.
Now, Singapore bank card holders who shop at KLIA 2 and Sunway Pyramid in Kuala Lumpur, Queensbay Mall in Penang as well as Makhota Parade and Dataran Pahlawan in Melaka will be able to pay with NETS.
The services will be available at multiple outlets, including retailers that are popular among Singaporeans such as Giant Hypermarket, pharmacy Guardian, medicinal store Eu Yan Sang and bak kwa chain Bee Cheng Hiang.
Malaysian travellers to Singapore may now also make purchases using MyDebit ATM cards, Malaysia’s national debit card scheme through 500 acceptance points.
MyDebit may be used through NETS' network of merchants at Bugis Village, as well as outlets like Apple retailer iStudio, Pandora, Awfully Chocolate and Salad Stop!.
The initiative was first announced in a joint statement in April by Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad and his Singapore counterpart Lee Hsien Loong.
EXCHANGE RATE "ALMOST THE SAME AS" MONEY CHANGERS
In an interview with CNA, Group CEO of NETS Jeffrey Goh highlighted that exchange rates will be competitive for Singaporean visitors who can now use NETS ATM cards instead of bringing wads of cash when they shop in Malaysia.
“So for example, when Singaporeans go to the grocer, and you don’t have enough cash, (this NETS service) gives them an option. It also gives them peace of mind knowing that we don’t charge them high forex rates,” said Mr Goh.
While the exchange rate could vary with every purchase, Mr Goh said that it was "almost the same as the money changers".
“For merchants, NETS service will bring customers to them. And customers (might) make bigger orders too as it's convenient for them,” he said.
When CNA visited an optician retailer at JB City Square, a Singaporean shopper who bought contact lenses with his NETS ATM card was charged with a conversion rate of S$1 to RM3.0248.
The rate was similar to the selling rate of S$1 to RM3.03 offered at a money changer at the same mall.
Singaporean Muhd Ismail Hassan, who visited JB City Square for a day trip, told CNA that expanding the use of NETS ATM card services to Kuala Lumpur, Melaka and Penang was a good idea.
“When we travel up, we don’t have to carry S$1,000 to S$2,000 of cash anymore. It’s more convenient for us when we shop at the malls in these places,” he said.
Mr Goh said that NETS is looking to increase the number of acceptance points to restaurants and shopping outlets in Malaysia that are popular among Singaporeans. He added that NETS is working with PayNet to offer QR code payments “within the next six months” for customers.
This means that Singaporean visitors to Malaysia, or Malaysian visitors to Singapore, will be able to make purchases via cashless payments services such as DBS PayLah via QR code transactions through their smartphones.
NETS was also working with partners in Indonesia and Thailand to enable cross-border instant fund transfers and QR payments in the future, he said.
Source: CNA/am(hm)
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
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~
Redevelopment of Swettenham Pier Cruise Terminal to begin next year
GEORGE TOWN, Nov 18 -- Construction work on the redevelopment of the Swettenham Pier Cruise Terminal (SPCT) to accommodate larger ships, will begin next year.
Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd (RCL) managing director for Asia Pacific, Angie Stephen, said the redevelopment plan had been approved while a construction partner and concessionaire had also been identified.
"At the moment, we are just tying up some last-minute loose ends and we expect construction work to begin in two to three months," she told reporters after the annual docking of RCL's 'Quantum of the Seas' cruise ship at SPCT here today.
She added that RCL expects construction to take about 12 months - this follows the signing of a joint-venture agreement in September last year between Penang Port Sdn Bhd (PPSB) and RCL to redevelop the SPCT for the purposes of accommodating larger ships.
The redevelopment will see the SPCT’s existing 400 metre (m) berth extended by 220m, and the addition of a 118m-long dolphin.
It is anticipated that this will enable the terminal to handle two mega-sized cruise ships simultaneously on its outer berths, along with one small ship and one medium-sized ship on its inner berths.
One of the biggest barriers faced in growing the cruise tourism industry in South East Asia was the lack of ports for cruise ships to dock at, Stephen observed, explaining that RCL's ships were getting bigger and to improve the passenger experience, the group preferred to dock at destinations compared to dropping anchor away from shore.
"So I think Penang is a step ahead of many other places in terms of having available infrastructure," she said, adding that cruise tourism had a lot of potential in the region owing to reports that less than one per cent of Asians were exposed to cruising.
-- BERNAMA
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One way traffic
World's longest tube water slide at Escape theme park in Penang is now open
GEORGE TOWN, Nov 9 -- The world's longest tube water slide at the Escape theme park in Teluk Bahang here is now open to the public.
Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow said for years, Escape theme park has been the leading tourist attraction in Penang and the opening of the new attraction of the 1,111 metre-long water slide will further strengthen its position as number one theme park in Malaysia.
He said a study conducted by Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) recently revealed that 10.9 per cent of international and domestic tourists came to Penang to visit Escape.
“The study shows a remarkable statistic and testament to the importance of Escape to both Penang and Malaysia's tourism growth ambitions,” he said at the official opening of Escape phase 3 - Gravityplay and the Guinness World Records Longest Tube Water Slide here today.
Chow said that the Penang Immigration Department's statistic also showed that the number of visitor arrivals recorded from January to August this year had steeply increased by 207.7 per cent to 89,535 from only 29,101 recorded over the corresponding period of last year.
Also present at the opening ceremony was Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng, senator Lim Hui Ying and Penang Escape theme park founder and chief executive officer Sim Choo Kheng.
Meanwhile, Sim said today is the culmination of years of struggle to turn the dreams into reality.
“From conceptualisation to the support we received from the Penang Development Corporation, I am grateful for all those who have contributed to making Escape what it is today - a world-class tourist destination with world-record-setting attractions that generate more smiles per hour for everyone who visits Escape,” said Sim who also admitted having invested RM60 million in the last seven years to build the theme park.
Earlier, Escape Penang also inked a memorandum of understanding with GSPARX Sdn Bhd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of TNB, to build a photovoltaic facility that will supply renewable energy to Escape.
Sim said this initiative will make Escape the first theme park in Malaysia to go completely carbon neutral.
“At Escape, our eco-friendly parks co-exist with the natural habitat. We want our visitors to experience play amongst the beautiful terrain and rain forest we have here in Penang. This initiative with GSPARX will allow us to be fully self-sustainable and completely carbon neutral, how mother nature intended it to be,” he said.
He also added that the physical construction on an estimated 0.6 hectare of land will complete in over a year and will help reduce the monthly electricity bill of up to 15 per cent.
-- BERNAMA
200,000 expected at Penang Street Food festival on Nov 23-24
GEORGE TOWN, Nov 4 -- The third edition of the Penang Street Food Festival (PSFF) will be held at Beach Street and neighbouring streets on Nov 23 and 24 from 5 pm to 11 pm, said Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow, today.
He said the two-day event would highlight various types of ethnic foods and selections such as Peranakan Bites and Desserts, Muslim-friendly Food, Hainanese Delights, Laksa Galore and Mainland food varieties.
“This year, we are expecting at least 200,000 visitors to the festival,” he said in a press conference here, adding that there would be around 180 stalls with food vendors from Penang and the mainland, compared to 134 stalls last year.
Meanwhile, Penang Tourism Development, Arts, Culture and Heritage Exco Yeoh Soon Hin said that the PSFF would coincide with the Penang Bridge International Marathon this year, which would be held on Nov 24, and the runners would be able to come and enjoy the food festival after finishing the marathon event.
“For this year’s Penang Bridge Marathon, we have participants from over 70 different countries and I believe that this would be a great opportunity to promote our local delights worldwide,” he said.
--BERNAMA
Penang braces for thunderstorms as typhoons chug towards neighbouring countries
GEORGE TOWN, Nov 7 -- Penang is bracing for severe thunderstorms from tomorrow to Sunday that can result from two typhoons likely to affect neighbouring countries.
State Welfare, Caring Society and Environment Committee chairman Phee Boon Poh said today he has instructed all response teams to stand by in terms of equipment, vehicles, logistics and manpower.
He said Typhoon Nakri is expected to make landfall in Vietnam on Saturday and Typhoon Matmo is likely to affect Myanmar and Bangladesh tomorrow.
“The two typhoons are expected to create anomalous situations in Penang,” he said.
-- BERNAMA
