Celebrations for Visit Malaysia Year 2014 kicked off promptly on the first day of the year when State Exco for Tourism YB Nolee Ashilin Dato Mohammed Radzi greeted the first visitors arriving via Firefly Airways from Singapore with cultural dances and goodie bags.
The event, held at Sultan Azlan Shah Airport, was organised by Tourism Malaysia Perak with the state government and Tourism NGO’s. Present at the event was Tourism Malaysia Perak Director Ahmad Kamaruddin and NGO, Perak Tourism Association Chairman Hj Mohamed Odzman.
Visit Malaysia Year 2014 has themed its year long celebration as ‘Celebrating 1Malaysia Truly Asia’ and has targeted 28 million visitors who are anticipated to spend RM76 billion for the year.
According to Nolee, Perak has targeted 5.7 million visitors to the state for the year. Besides promotions, Perak Tourism has also prepared tourism brochures such as a year long calendar of events and a fun map for visitors to the state.
Tourism Malaysia Perak Director Ahmad Kamaruddin announced that the special celebration to welcome visitors to Malaysia will be held this Saturday 4, January at all entry points throughout the country from Kota Kinabalu International Airport to Bukit Kayu Hitam in the north. For Perak the celebration will be held at Pangkor Jetty.
Meantime visitors, the Rogers family from France who were greeted with dancers upon arrival said it was ‘ a lovely way to be greeted on the first day of the year’. Similarly, couple Loke Ying Chow and Valerie Ho shared the same sentiment. Loke who is from Ipoh said this is the first time he had received a warm greeting coming home.
JAG
