MALAYSIA - Reinventing and boosting tourism in the northern region

The edge daily, 25-07-2007

Over the years, tourism remains one of the healthiest sectors in the country due to our unique cultural ‘melting pot’ characteristic. Statistics from the Ministry of Tourism indicate that Malaysia received RM36.27 billion in tourist receipts last year, up 13.5% from RM31.95 billion in 2005.
Although two major tourist spots, Penang and Langkawi, are located within the Northern Corridor Economic Region (NCER), the four states — Penang, Kedah, Perlis and Perak — collectively capture only 4.8 million visitors per annum, while average spending per tourist in the NCER stands at RM1,890, compared to the national average of RM2,066.
This is surprising, as the two island resorts have always been promoted heavily on the national and international scale. However, this is possibly caused by a shorter average length of stay and cheaper prices as compared to other parts of Malaysia and especially, East Malaysia.

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