GEORGE TOWN, Oct 21 ― Tourism attractions in Penang recorded a massive jump in visitors in the past week since interstate travel was allowed — 14 places saw 27,059 visitors in total.
Penang tourism and creative economy committee chairman Yeoh Soon Hin said these are only for visitors recorded at 14 tourist attractions for the period between October 11 and 19 without taking into account public places and other attractions.
“I believe we have more than 27,059 visitors who came to Penang for our various attractions,” he said after launching the Responsible Tourism campaign today at Angsana Hotel here.
The data was compiled by the Association of Tourist Attractions Penang.
The 14 attractions were Penang Hill, Penang Bird Park, The Habitat Penang Hill, Audi Dream Farm, Tropical Spice Garden, Monkeycup Garden, Pinang Peranakan Mansion, The TOP Penang, Tropical Fruit Farm, Cheah Kongsi, Wonderfood Museum, Penang 3D Trick Art, Tech Dome Penang and Dark Mansion.
Yeoh said the hotel occupancy rates in Penang have also increased during the same period.
He said the beach hotels in Penang recorded a 75 per cent occupancy rate.
Citing figures from the Penang chapter of the Malaysian Association of Hotels, Yeoh said accommodation located within the George Town Unesco world heritage site recorded 70 per cent occupancy rate while those in other parts of the island recorded between 45 and 50 per cent.
He said the hotels in Seberang Perai also recorded a 65 per cent occupancy rate.
Yeoh said Penang must be welcoming to visitors to spur the state tourism industry.
“We can’t say we don’t welcome tourists, we need tourists so we only need to play our roles in ensuring everyone’s safety,” he said.
He said this is why the state government has launched a set of tourism guidelines for both visitors and operators.
The guidelines under the state’s Responsible Tourism campaign required operators to inspect the vaccination certificates of visitors and provide daily self-update of Covid-19 risk status.
“At the same time, we also encourage operators to conduct a Covid-19 self-test for its employees every two weeks and to adopt an online appointment mechanism for better crowd control,” he said.
Yeoh also advised visitors to take the Covid-19 self-tests prior to traveling to Penang.
Visitors are also advised to wear double masks if they are at crowded public places.
Tourism operators and visitors can obtain a copy of the guidelines from www.petace.gov.my/SOP.
