TOURIST INDUSTRY IN PENANG STABLE - EXCO

GEORGE TOWN, April 6  (Bernama) -- Tourist areas in Penang, especially along the beach and Bukit Bendera, were crowded during this year's Hari Raya Aidilfitri celebrations and the one-week school holidays.

State Tourism and Creative Economy Committee chairman Wong Hon Wai said that these have seen the tourism industry in Penang grow steadily, and indirectly refutes the claim that the state did not receive tourists during the eight-day holiday stretch.

"I would like to say to the several parties who claimed that Penang did not receive tourists during the Hari Raya Aidilfitri holidays this time by presenting this latest data on the number of people who have come on vacation to this state since March 28.

"According to the Penang Hill Corporation (PBBPP), from March 28 until now, more than 51,000 visitors have taken the Penang Hill train during that period and the number is very encouraging," he told Bernama today.

He said this in response to the allegation by the Gerakan party that the state government lacks creativity, which shows its failure to develop the state's tourism sector as the hotel occupancy rate in Penang was still below 50 per cent despite the Aidilfitri holiday and school break lasting for a week.

Commenting further, Wong said that PBBPP, in collaboration with Rapid Penang and the Penang government, provided a free shuttle bus service to Bukit Bendera in conjunction with the Hari Raya Aidilfitri celebrations to avoid traffic congestion in the area.

He said the free shuttle service operated for five days from March 29 to April 2, from 9 am to 9 pm, with a frequency of 1 hour and 30 minutes in both directions.

"The public, especially tourists, frequently use that service because it is more convenient and avoids traffic congestion. This is the seventh time we are offering this service to visitors of Bukit Bendera," he said.

He also said that based on their monitoring and surveys, they also found that several tourist areas, especially along the beach from Tanjung Bunga to Batu Ferringhi, were also crowded with people vacationing for this festive season.

"However, we do not have data or visitor numbers because it is not like taking the Bukit Bendera funicular train which requires a ticket, allowing us to know the actual number of visitors, but overall the number of tourists coming to this state during this holiday period is indeed high."

"We can also see the nasi kandar restaurants, especially the famous ones, filled with lines of people eager to enjoy the dish whenever they visit the state ," he added.

Meanwhile, the Penang Malaysian Hotel Association (MAH) chairman Datuk Tony Goh said that the hotel booking rate in the state was around 50 per cent, but in the Batu Ferringhi area, it reached 60 to 70 per cent since March 28 until today.

He said that in recent years it has indeed become a habit for hotel booking rates during the Hari Raya Aidilfitri holidays in that state to be around 50 per cent to 70 pe rcent because the Malay community returns to their hometowns to celebrate and not to vacation like during school holidays.

"They (the Malays) take a holiday for Hari Raya Aidilfitri and return to their hometowns while also visiting family members, so they do not stay in hotels but rather at their respective family homes. However, in Penang, we are fortunate because there are foreign tourists who come to vacation.

"Non-Malays choose not to take a holiday at this time because they do not want to get stuck in traffic jams, and some of them also visit friends' houses to celebrate Hari Raya Aidilfitri. The hotel sector is also prepared for this situation of reduced bookings," he said, noting that the booking power among Malays is very high.

A Bernama survey also found that the Penang Bridge and the main roads in the island area, especially George Town and Batu Ferringhi, were congested with vehicles.

Locations such as Chew Jetty and Tan Jetty, small fishing villages built on water, Armenian Street, Bukit Bendera, and Padang Kota also attracted visitors.

-- BERNAMA