Tourism Malaysia to boost tourist arrivals in northern states

GEORGE TOWN: Tourism Malaysia Northern Region (TMWU) is helping to coordinate tourism activities in Perlis, Kedah, Penang and Perak to attract more visitors and ensure a balanced spread of visitors to these states.

TMWU deputy director Siti Hajar Yunus said to achieve this, it would be organising programmes and workshops for representatives of the four state governments and tourism industry players soon.

"With the lifting of interstate travel ban, the tourism sector is set for recovery. TMWU is responsible for boosting arrivals at all tourist attractions in this region, not just at locations normally popular with tourists.

"With the cooperation of all parties, we can help tour agencies come up with attractive packages involving the four states to ensure tourists are more evenly distributed among them," she told Bernama here today.

She said there are many locations in the northern region which are still not popular among local tourists, such as attractions in Perlis, mainland Kedah, Seberang Perai in Penang and eco-tourism products in Perak.

"In this part of the country, we have many products catering to the different tastes of tourists, such as homestays, jungle trekking and extreme water sports," she added.

Siti Hajar said Langkawi and Penang remained popular among local tourists, with the former having attracted 60,504 visitors between Sept 16 and Oct 6 under the pilot tourism bubble while the latter recorded 27,059 visitors at 14 tourist attractions between Oct 11 and 19.

-- BERNAMA