Ch’ng (eighth from right) and Yeoh (ninth from right) with other tourism representatives cutting a cake at the dinner in George Town, Penang.
Association of Tourism Attractions Penang (Atap) will have more collaborations with various stakeholders to further promote the state’s tourism sector.
Its chairman Datuk Ch’ng Huck Theng said Atap was now collaborating with the Malaysian International Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MICCI) northern branch in Penang to expand the tourism network.
“It is all about looking at a creative economy now.
“We will do our best to boost tourism in the state,” said Ch’ng at Atap’s recent dinner themed “Horizon Redefined” at The Wembley St Giles Hotel in George Town.
Representatives of Atap and MICCI northern branch in Penang also signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) during the dinner.
In his speech, Ch’ng noted that with the growing demand for travel, he would push for more direct international flights and to make Penang a home port for international leisure cruises.
“We are in the final phase of establishing the Penang Aviation and Cruise Liaison Committee to help implement the fly-cruise concept in Penang.
“Encouraging more tourists to spend more time and increase their spending will eventually propel the growth of the local economy,” he added.
Ch’ng said the reopening of domestic borders since the end of last year had helped majority of businesses to pull through.
“The reopening of international borders helped further but I must stress that if it had not been for the support of Malaysians, we would not have recovered this fast,” he said.
He also said that the Atap team had countless meetings with Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow as well as state tourism and creative economy committee chairman Yeoh Soon Hin to work out possible solutions and ideas to help Atap members who were fighting to stay afloat during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“It is Atap’s duty to fight for our members’ livelihood and we could not keep quiet as businesses were dying and people were losing their jobs,” he said, adding that the association had 57 members.
Yeoh said it was good to see the smiles back again on the faces of Penangites when businesses started booming again.
“The state had worked out various plans, including the Covid-19 Safety Accreditation, Responsible Tourism and Tourism Recovery Action Plan (TRAP) under the strategies of the Penang Tourism Master Plan 2021-2030 to make Penang a safe destination to travel,” he said.
Yeoh said the World Congress of Information Technology (WCIT 2022) next month would create a positive ripple effect to the state’s tourism industry.
