MINISTER IN MALAYSIAN TOURISM PUSH IN KUWAIT

From Muin Abdul Majid

KUWAIT CITY, May 10 (Bernama) -- Dr Ng Yen Yen kicked off a
tourism road show here with a meeting with top tour operators Saturday night
where she touted the possibility of visitors from Kuwait and beyond being
involved in property investment in Malaysia.

The Malaysian tourism minister said interested parties could also look into
developing boutique hotels in Malaysia.

Elaborating, she told the gathering that visitors could buy a second home in
Malaysia, for example.

"In this manner, Malaysia will not just be seen as a tourist destination but
also as a place away from home to get away to during the summer.

"So, instead of zooming off to places like London or Paris, it's now
Malaysia," she later told the Malaysian media covering her visit to Kuwait.


Education tourism and medical tourism could be further developed from there,
said Dr Ng who is in the Kuwaiti capital after leading the Malaysian delegation
at the May 4-7 Arabian Travel Market 2010 in Dubai.

On boutique hotels, the minister said "they were very interested".

"I'll look further into it and see how we can proceed. They can always do a
boutique hotel of, say, 50 room, 100 rooms," she said.

According to her, potential customers would not be confined to Middle
Easterners alone as people from other regions, like the millions of Muslims from
China, travel as well.

Dr Ng also talked about the idea of developing super luxury holidays for
well-heeled people.


"There's a very big opportunity for this market segment where holidaymakers
will be treated like a king or queen," she said.

The minister said her ministry would likely rope in only selected players
for this purpose.

"We can't just open it to everybody because quality of service is absolutely
critical. The moment the service quality is down, the project is finished," she
noted.

Dr Ng also briefed the tour operators on Tourism Malaysia's efforts to bring
in more Arab tourists to Malaysia during the Ramadan fasting month.

The Malaysia Gala Dinner will be held at the Sheraton Kuwait hotel tonight.

-- BERNAMA



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