COLOURS OF MALAYSIA IN GUILIN

By Tham Choy Lin

GUILIN, April 18 (Bernama) -- The people of this city, well-known for its
scenic attractions, had a glimpse of another paradise when Tourism Malaysia
rolled into town for the first time with a food and cultural festival on a
two-leg promotion with low-cost carrier AirAsia in the southern Guangxi Zhuang
autonomous region.

Curious locals quickly warmed up to the "teh tarik" (pulled tea) and used
chopsticks to chomp down dozens of "roti canai" (Malaysian flat bread) and
plates of piping hot "mee goreng" (fried noodle) even before the show officially
began.

Malaysia's consul general in Kunming, Roseli Abdul, jointly launched the
three-day "Colours of Malaysia" promotion at the main town square on Friday
evening with Guilin foreign affairs deputy director Ning Song and tourism deputy
director Chen Yun Chun.

"We hope that with more promotions like this, tourists from Guilin will
visit Malaysia. In addition, as a food and a shopping haven, Malaysia is an
exciting and safe holiday destination and one Chinese yuan is now 53 Malaysian
sen compared to 44 sen a year ago," Roseli said.

Also present at the launch was Suhaimi Shaharuddin, Tourism Malaysia's
director in Guangzhou, who covers the southern China region and biggest market
for Malaysia here.

"Guangxi is a new market for us after AirAsia began flying to Guilin last
September. We had a similar promotion in the capital, Nanning, last week before
coming here and the response in both places has been very good," Suhaimi said.

The potential market is underlined by AirAsia increasing its four weekly
flights to a daily frequency to Guilin from next month. The budget carrier
currently charges 359 yuan one-way for the four-hour journey to Kuala Lumpur.

Suhaimi said Guangxi tourists were new to Malaysia and their popular
destinations were Kuala Lumpur, Melaka, Genting Highlands and Pangkor island.

"Most of them are families and we will also work on getting them to Sabah
and Sarawak. They can travel to Shenzhen first and take AirAsia from there to
the two states," he added. Tourism Malaysia is currently working with two travel
agents in Guilin.

Coincidentally, the Sheraton Guilin Hotel is hosting "A Taste of Malaysia"
dinner buffet with chefs flown in from Malaysia.

China is Malaysia's biggest market outside Southeast Asia. Last year, the
tourist numbers rose to 949,000 while arrivals in the first two months of this
year totalled 174,500.
-- BERNAMA