Wong Hon Wai, Penang State Minister for Tourism and Artistic Financial system, and Ashwin Gunasekeran, CEO, Penang Conference & Exhibition Bureau, at a press convention in Chennai on Friday.
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BIJOY GHOSH
Chennai may very well be the primary Indian metropolis to have a direct flight connection to the Malaysian state of Penang, which is situated on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia, by the Malacca Strait.
“We’re speaking to airways and journey brokers, and with State authorities officers a few direct connection between Chennai and Penang. We wish the direct connection to be established this 12 months,” Wong Hon Wai, Penang State Minister for Tourism and Artistic Financial system, advised newspersons. He’s in Chennai as half of a giant delegation of the Penang Odyssey marketing campaign, which goals to advertise Penang as a most well-liked vacation spot for each enterprise and leisure within the Indian market.
Together with Chennai, Shanghai and Dubai are the opposite two locations advisable for direct flight connections to Penang this 12 months, he mentioned.
Chennai can be utilized as a gateway by travellers from Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Bengaluru, he mentioned. At current, Indians visiting Penang need to take a flight from Kuala Lumpur.
With 1.74 million residents and a inhabitants density of 1,659/km2 as of 2020, Penang is certainly one of Malaysia’s most densely populated and urbanised states. Its inhabitants consists of a mixture of Chinese language, Malays, Indians, Eurasians, Siamese and expatriates, he mentioned.
Ashwin Gunasekaran, CEO, Penang Conference & Exhibition Bureau, mentioned as a part of the seventh version of the Penang Roadshow to India, two roadshows have been held at Mumbai (January 15) and Delhi (January 17) respectively; with the third (in Chennai) and fourth (in Kochi) to be held on January 22.
India is an enormous marketplace for in-bound tourism to Malaysia, with practically 7 lakh travellers visiting the nation in 2023. The latest launch of visa-free journey to the nation from December 1 2023 to December 31, 2024, for stays of as much as 30 days, ought to encourage extra Indian travellers to go to Malaysia, he mentioned.
The Penang Odyssey marketing campaign is poised to discover new avenues to captivate the Indian market, he mentioned.
In 2023, Penang hosted 600 occasions with 1,60,000 delegates, signalling a sturdy occasions calendar, with an estimated financial affect of RM1 billion. This accomplishment highlights Penang’s readiness and functionality to host large-scale, world-class occasions, reinforcing its place as a premier vacation spot for enterprise and leisure, he mentioned.
Razaidi Abd Rahim, Director of Tourism Malaysia (South India & Sri Lanka), mentioned India plans to boost it connectivity with Kuala Lumpur after April, and will probably add Penang because the second vacation spot in Malaysia after Kuala Lumpur.
