The DAP-led Penang government has failed to promote and develop the state tourism sector following a drop in tourist arrivals in the state.

State Gerakan Youth chief Oh Tong Keong said the matter should be of concern as the drop in tourist arrivals happened despite Penang being declared a World Heritage Site two years ago.

“It is disappointing that the state government does not appreciate Penang’s Unesco status, and as a result, many tourists are not even aware that they are visiting a world heritage site,” he told reporters here Monday (Nov 8).

Oh said Penang had a lot of tourist attractions and facilities but tourist arrivals had dropped in the last two years.

He said hotel occupancy from 2008 to 2009 dropped by 7.1 per cent.

“According to the report by the Socio-Economic and Environmental Reseach Institute (SERI) Penang, hotel occupancy dropped from 64.7 per cent to 57.6 per cent in 2009,” he said.

He said Gerakan was disappointed with the current situation as many of the people in Penang depended on the tourism sector for a living.

“This shows that the state government failed to organise new tourism programmes and activities to attract more tourists, but is still sticking to the old activities.”

“Whatever tourism programmes lined up over the last two years are just a continuation from what had been done to promote Penang previously,” he said, citing the annual Pesta Pulau Pinang, the Penang Bridge Run, the dragon boat championship and Chingay festival, as examples.

In the recent statement by Tourism Ministry has revealed that the number of tourist arrivals in Penang dropped from 6.3 million to 6 million in 2009 whereas Malacca recorded 8.9 million tourists arrivals last year.

However, he said Gerakan are willing to cooperate with the present state government to boost the state tourism sector.

“We can work with the state government for the sake of Penang people. We hope the current state government can initiate new programmes to draw the tourists,” he said.

by Editorial Desk
gerakan4u.com