Malaysia-Indonesia Tourism Sector Growth Brings Positive Impact To Perak

JAKARTA, May 11 (Bernama) -- The positive growth of the tourism sector between Malaysia and Indonesia is expected to help increase tourist arrivals from Indonesia to Perak (a state in the northwest of Peninsular Malaysia), said Malaysian Ambassador to Indonesia Zahrain Mohamed Hashim. He said currently Indonesia is the country’s second largest contributor in terms of revenue to the tourism industry with a total number of about three million tourist arrivals. "About two million Malaysians visited Indonesia with 600 flights from Indonesia to Malaysia per week and 22 flights from Jakarta to Kuala Lumpur recorded daily. “Hence what is being done by the Perak government is correct because Indonesia is the largest target for the Perak government to increase the number of tourist arrivals from that country,” he said. He was speaking at the Tourism Networking Dinner in conjunction with the Visit Perak Year 2017 Tourism Mission here Tuesday night which was also attended by Perak Menteri Besar Dr Zambry Abd Kadir, State Secretary Abdul Puhat Mat Nayan and several state executive councillors. In a media conference later, Zahrain said the Malaysian Embassy and Tourism Malaysia in Indonesia were promoting tourism products found in Malaysia, including in Perak. "They (Indonesian nationals) know Malaysia but they may be less familiar with the states in Malaysia. “I am impressed with the tourism products available in Perak...so we, especially Tourism Malaysia will assist the government of Perak to promote their tourism products throughout Indonesia," he said. Meanwhile Zambry said the state government in cooperation with the Malaysian Embassy in Indonesia will introduce Perak as a must-visit location for the people of Indonesia to visit Malaysia. "The areas outside North Sumatra may not know about Perak. Recently I went to Lombok and met with its governor and he (governor) was keen to forge cooperation in the education aspect, so this is an opportunity that we are introducing,” he said. On the tourism promotion mission in Medan and Jakarta, Zambry said he received good feedback from the tourism agents and local people. "I was also given the opportunity to speak live on television and radio...through this way, I can promote tourism products in Perak to the people in Indonesia," he added. -- BERNAMA