Sabah, Penang performing well in promoting tourism

KOTA KINABALU: Like Penang, Sabah is also an important state and performing well in promoting Malaysian tourism, said Penang state exco (state minister) for Tourism Development, Arts, Culture & Heritage, Yeoh Soon Hin.

“Sabah is just as active under the Minister of Tourism, Culture and Environment (Datuk Christina Liew),” he said during a courtesy call on his Sabah counterpart, Friday.

Yeoh believes that both Sabah and Penang can contribute positively to realising the federal government’s vision of attracting 30 million tourist arrivals to the country during Visit Malaysia Year next year (2020).

“I am in town for the national-level International Museum Day. So I am taking the opportunity to call on the Deputy Chief Minister (Datuk Christina Liew). We exchanged ideas and notes on how to promote Malaysian tourism,” he said.

Yeoh said Penang is famous for its street food but has a different natural environment compared with Sabah.

Answering a question on what lure Chinese and Korean tourists to Sabah, Liew, who is also Deputy Chief Minister, alluded to the 3Ss – Sand, Sea and Sun.

“They love to visit our offshore islands under the Tunku Abdul Rahman Park. On the record, Sabah is known to portray one of the best sunset views in the world,” she said.

For 2018, Sabah was paid the highest tourism tax allocation amounting to RM12.66 million (by the federal government), followed by Penang which received RM10 million.

Meanwhile, the Penang state minister invited Liew to attend the next national-level International Museum Day celebration which will be hosted by the Penang government in 2020.

Yeoh was accompanied by his Special Officer Oong Ren Jie and Penang State Museum Board director Haryany Mohamad.

Also present were Sabah Tourism Board (STB) chairman Ken Pan Ying On, ministry’s permanent secretary, William Baya, deputy director of Sabah Museum Department, Su Chin Sidih and STB general manager Noredah Othman.