Prepare for Visit Malaysia 2020

Be our guest: Mohamaddin (third from left) opens Trove Hotel in Johor Baru. With him are (from left) Trove Hotel owner Ong Yoong Nyok, Gan Hong Lee and Johor Women Development and Tourism Committee chairman Liow Cai Tung.

JOHOR BARU: All local councils must upgrade infrastructure as part of preparations to welcome Visit Malaysia 2020, the government announced.

Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Datuk Mohamaddin Ketapi said focus must be given to public facilities.

He said cleanliness must also be given emphasis.

“It is so messy with plastic bottles everywhere. It is not good at all for us,” he told reporters after officiating the grand opening of Trove Johor Baru owned by Care Luxury Hotels and Resort (CLHR) Management Group here yesterday.

Mohamaddin, who is on a working visit to the state, commended the pace of development in Johor, saying it had attracted many foreign and domestic tourists over the last couple of years.

Besides being the gateway to Malaysia from Singapore, Johor was also able to attract visitors from other parts of the world with flights coming here.

Mohamaddin said last year, Malaysia received 25.9 million international tourists with a total expenditure of RM82.2bil in tourism receipts while for domestic tourism, 205.4 million visitors spent RM83.1bil.

For the record, in 2017, Johor was ranked third for the most visited state by both foreign and domestic tourists, the minister added.

He also urged industry players to come up with new packages from time to time in an effort to make Malaysia appealing and attractive to tourists.

“Industry players should not just play it safe but must have the think-outside-the-box mindset,’’ he added.