GEORGE TOWN, Aug 23 — Malaysian event organisers, including those planning festivals, conferences and art events, should start planning and publicising activities for next year so that visitors can plan for longer vacations here.

Association of Tourist Attractions Penang (ATAP) chairman Datuk Ch’ng Huck Theng said travellers start planning their vacations months, sometimes a year ahead so they will search for activities at the destination before finalising plans.

"Many travellers like to book hotels and air tickets a year early so we need to start lining up activities and events for next year and promote it now,” he said.

He used Singapore as an example where the country has already published a list of events and activities for 2025.

"I am not talking about annual cultural events like Chinese New Year or Thaipusam, but other events like conferences, art events and festivals,” he said.

He said Malaysian organisers have a habit of waiting till the last minute before finalising an event and publicising it, sometimes a month or two before the event.

"Even announcing an event two months ahead is considered too late because it might not be enough time for visitors to take leave and plan the trip,” he said.

He said it is also important to have a list of events and activities for travellers during off-peak season instead of focusing only on peak season.

"Tourism business cannot survive only during the peak season with no revenue during the off-peak season,” he said.

He said with early planning, the government and tourism sector can also target the type of tourists they want to visit the country.

He also said Penang is a great destination for tourism, conferences, art shows, for business and for leisure so all the tourism players need to do is make early preparations and announce the list of activities early.

"If we want to be an international tourism destination, we need to ditch our last minute attitude and start planning early,” he said.

However, he said the island state has continued to draw in tourists that come on an ad-hoc basis.

"We are still drawing a lot of ad-hoc tourists to Penang because we are a great place to visit so we can further boost the number of visitors by planning ahead,” he said.

In a Bernama report yesterday, Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow said the state is set to see 10 new hotels with 4,000 rooms over the next few years as more tourists are expected to visit.

"There is definitely room for more hotels to accommodate the increasing number of visitors and tourists to Penang,” he said at a press conference here yesterday.

Chow also noted that in 2023 alone, Penang recorded almost seven million tourist arrivals.