MELBOURNE: Malaysia has found a powerful tourism ally in National Liaison Council of Chinese-Australians chairman Anson Hong.

He has promised to help promote tourism in Malaysia among his more than a million members.

Hong, who owns a Chinese newspaper company in Australia and heads five major associations with influence over 120 national organisations, is also a Justice of Peace in South Australia.

“We know Kuala Lumpur. We have heard about Borneo but not Sarawak or Sabah in detail. You have the biggest cave in the world? We would love to see that,” he told The Star here last week.

Hong was one of the VVIPs invited for a luncheon with Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ng Yen Yen during her stop here as part of her tourism mission to New Zealand and Australia.

Hong said in the state of Victoria alone the Council of Chinese-Australians had more than 400,000 members and had links, among others, in China, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.

“I will help to promote Malaysia among my association members. Malaysia is still very new to most of us. We have a lot of members who visit China, Thailand, Singapore, Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, Macau, Europe and United States every year.

“I am sure they would love to include Malaysia among their travel destinations if we can give them enough publicity about the places of interest,” Hong said.

He said Malaysia had several distinct advantages that it should promote extensively if it wanted to draw more tourists.

He said that among them were the currency exchange rate, diverse culture and races, security, favourable climate year-round, ease of communication, good transportation and accommodation, and excellent facilities.

“The Australian government provides financial grants to our organisations every year to be used for our overseas travel. Our members go overseas for convention, meetings, excursions, adventure tours, golf, mahjong and even pingpong tournaments.

“We have money to spend. What we look for are new places of interest. I am sure we can find many new destinations in Malaysia that will be very interesting to us,” he added.

Hong said Dr Ng’s visit was very useful as she had explained in detail what the states in Malaysia had to offer.

Asked what was the most negative thing he had heard about Malaysia, he said he had heard allegations of “widespread deforestation, illegal logging, wildlife abuse and land disputes with forest people”.

Hong said these issues were very sensitive among tourists and must be addressed comprehensively.

星洲日报‧2010.08.31

星洲日报‧2010.08.31

RAUB: Pahang has benefited from home stay activities with 12 of such projects earning revenue totalling RM790,000 for the first six months of this year.

Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ng Yen Yen said the home stay operators received cash payment from its customers to sustain their business.

Dr Ng said statistics showed that the tourism sector recorded a considerable growth over the past year, including tourist’s arrival both locals and foreigners.

“Last year, some 9,444,370 tourists who visited Pahang as compared to 7,712,663 tourists in 2008.

 

“In Raub alone, there are 39,683 visitors last year, up from 38,770 in 2008.

“The figure does not include visitors to Fraser’s Hill that rose from 46,211 in 2008 to 109,038 last year,” she said at the launch of the ‘1Malaysia Green, 1Malaysia Clean’ campaign at Taman Tasik JPS near here recently.

Also present were Batu Talam assemblyman Datuk Abdul Aziz Mat Kiram, Pahang Tourism Malaysia director Amran Abdul Rahman and Pahang Tourism Ministry Office director Idros Yahya.

Dr Ng, who is also Raub MP, said her ministry had received numerous feedback from foreign visitors that Malaysia had the potential to be one of the international tourist destinations.

She said among the attractions were its multi-racial composition, natural resources, cultural performances, variety of food and various shopping malls to cater to the different needs of visitors.

“In this regard, all parties must co-operate and work together to promote the country to the world and to entice repeat visitors.

“Today’s programme is one of the initiatives to create an awareness among the public on the need to preserve the natural environment and cleanliness of our surroundings,” she said.

Dr Ng said it was the responsibility of all citizens to safeguard cleanliness by not throwing rubbish indiscriminately.

She said the local authorities should also carry out beautification work regularly to improve the landscape by planting trees and flowers to provide a conducive and soothing environment for visitors.

KUALA LUMPUR: Over 30,800 people from 47 countries, including Malaysians, have provided feedback on the food trail for the best nasi lemak, laksa and bak kut teh in the country through an online portal started by the Tourism Ministry, says its minister Datuk Seri Dr Ng Yen Yen.

She said the ministry would select the best outlets serving the three popular delicacies in December based on best food, value for money, hygiene and customer service.

Owners of selected food outlets would each receive a certificate of acknowledgement and a special logo for their outlets.

Food lovers had earlier provided feedback through www.fabfood1malaysia.com, she added.

 

“The food trail is to promote food as one of the main tourism products,” she told reporters after launching the Fabulous Food 1Malaysia Food Trail 2009 directory here yesterday.

Dr Ng said 120 outlets including hawker stalls were named in the directory offering the best for the three popular dishes that were being promoted.

The next three delicacies to be promoted next year are satay, roti canai and chicken rice. Food lovers would be able to vote for their favourite outlets through the same website, she said.

The ministry, she added, hoped that the effort would help outlet owners to improve their standards to international level.

Tourists spent about RM8.77bil on food and beverages in 2008, she said, adding that it grossed the third largest revenue in the tourism sector after accommodation and shopping.

She said “foodies tourism” was popular in New Zealand and Australia and some of the tourists even asked if Malaysia would follow suit.

●南洋商报

(吉隆坡30日讯)旅游部长拿督斯里黄燕燕医生今天推介“一个大马、食全食美、美食之旅”指南，吸引更多外国游客专程来马享用具有大马特色的美食。

她说，政府非常重视本地的美食及饮品在旅游业方面所扮演的角色，特别是2008年旅游业已为国家带来495亿令吉的收入，其中87亿7000万来自游客花在食物及饮料方面的开销。

黄燕燕推介的美食指南，包括”椰浆饭“、”叻沙“及”肉骨茶“，她希望透过这些来自全国各州，深具特色的美食店，能协助游客在芸芸美食中探索最为佳和最美味的食品，并与游客们共同分享大马美食文化的特色。

岀席美食指南推介仪式者包括旅游部秘书长黄宏炳、副秘书长阿慕鲁丁、大马雪隆姑苏慎忠行茶酒楼熟食公会主席林德来、港城饮食业集团董事何志强，以及隆佛盛跳墙酒家东主施文康。

旅游部每年推介3种美食

黄燕燕说，自旅游部推介“一个大马美食全食美”网站以来，即从去年12月至今年8月，共有来自47人国家逾3万人浏览这个网站。

网民是根据美食的味道、美食的呈现、价格、销售美食地点的卫生程度、服务等标准，选岀最佳美食。

旅游部将每年推介3种美食，今年选岀并将于日后推介的另外三种美食包括“印度煎饼”、“沙爹”及“鸡饭”。

黄燕燕说，推介的大马美食都为大马特产，别地都没有，例如肉骨茶在大马已有200年的历史，就连中国大陆及台湾也找不到。

她说，“一个大马美食”是旅游部继展开吸引3600万游客来马，为我国带来1680亿令吉收入，即平均每周30亿令吉之运动过后，所展开的另一附加运动。

“要增加旅游收入，就得留住旅客，让他们在大马作更长时间的逗留，作更多的消费，其中包括多享用美食及饮品。国内酒店的收入60%来自住宿，40%来自食品与饮料，有者的比例是50对50。”

（吉隆坡31日訊）旅遊部長拿督斯里黃燕燕指出，去年來馬的遊客在品嘗我國道地美食的消費多達85億令吉，餐飲因而繼住宿與購物后，成為旅遊業第三大收入來源和旅遊賣點。

她說，為使訪馬遊客絡繹不絕，該部致力改善餐飲業以增加旅遊收入；據悉，我國酒店有60%收入來自套房，40%來自餐飲，而一些酒店甚至已達到50對50的平衡比例，餐飲業備受該部重視。

“為此，本部去年決定列椰漿飯、叻沙和肉骨茶，為3種供遊客投選的美食，目前已有44個國家的遊客透過特設網站，評選出各50最佳攤位。”

她說，網站http://fabfood1malaysia.com，是特別為“一個大馬，食全食美”美食旅遊指南而特設的網站，旨在讓外國遊客投選他們拍案叫絕的攤位，以供更多外國遊客參考。

黃燕燕昨日出席該美食旅遊指南推介禮時，發表談話。

出席者為港城集團行政總廚何志強、隆盛佛跳牆酒家東主施文康、旅遊部秘書長拿督黃宏炳、雪隆姑蘇慎忠行餐飲業公會會長林德來，及本地著名廚師拿督旺依斯邁。

黃燕燕披露，有關網站從去年12月31日至今年8月，一共有3萬零864名國內外遊客參與投選。

她指出，新的投選食品主題為沙爹、雞飯和印度煎餅，遊客投選后，今年底將統計及對外公佈最受歡迎的攤位。

她說，該部官員也會到有關攤位貼上標籤好讓遊客辨識，但需視該攤位的環境衛生、服務素質、價格合理及味道是否達標。

星洲日报／大都会‧2010.08.30

CHRISTCHURCH: The sights and sounds of every Malaysian state were promoted extensively throughout a 10-day mission carried out by the Tourism Ministry in New Zealand and Austalia.

Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ng Yen Yen, during her meetings with tour operators, airline players, media representatives, trade organisations, local politicians and local tourism policy-makers, gave much publicity to the Malaysian states.

Among others, she promoted Sabah and Sarawak as places of adventure and intrigue, giving detailed explanations of the Mulu National Park which is a World Heritage Site, Borneo’s 130 million-year-old jungles and animals such as orang utan and proboscis monkeys.

She also pushed for Penang, Malacca, Perlis and Perak, saying that they offered much history and heritage attractions.

Dr Ng visited Auckland, Rotorua, Milford Sound, Christ­church, Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide during the tour mission that stretched from dawn to night every day.

Each time, the video presentation of “Malaysia, Truly Asia” offered much delight to the audience at stops in those cities.

Brain Tohill, a tour agent from New Zealand who caters to high-end tourism, said the presentation by Dr Ng had been very impressive.

His company also handles aerial tours of New Zealand.

Dr Chris West, the chief executive officer in charge of zoos in South Australia, said he learnt many new things about Malaysian states from the briefings.

“She explained in great detail what each state in Malaysia has to offer. And the point she highlighted about Malaysia trying to be green and clean and taking steps to overcome illegal logging and ensure eco-preservation is very useful to international tourists,” he said.

In wrapping up the tour mission, Dr Ng said she would compile a report about her visit to the two countries.

The trip, she said, had been an eye-opener for her as she learnt how world-class tourists venues in New Zealand and Australia were managed.

  （迪拜29日訊）大馬在由全球各地人民評估的自由旅遊享受排行榜中獲第13名，顯示其它國民進出大馬及我國國民前往其它國家旅遊都享有相對的自由。

由享氏夥伴公司所編譯的《2010年享氏簽證受限制指數國際排行榜》列出了以上的排名，這是一間專為國際居住及公民權策劃的公司。在排行榜中，英國、丹麥及瑞典分別以166分、164分及163分排在榜首三位。

根據享氏夥伴公司的官方網站表示，該排行榜是根據國家旅遊簽證及國民到其它國家所享受的自由來進行排名。

大馬是以151分得到排名第13位置，名列香港、巴西、南非、俄羅斯、泰國、印度、埃及與中國等國家之上.