Perak tourists to reach 6.5 mil by year-end.

Date: 17 December 2012

Perak tourists to reach 6.5 mil by year-end.

IPOH: Some 5.9 million tourists have so far visited Perak as a result of promotional activities and tour programmes in conjunction with Visit Perak Year.

Chairman of Industry, Investment, Development, Entrepreneurs, Tourism, Welfare and Women's Affairs Committee, Datuk Hamidah Osman said tourist arrivals are expected to reach 6.5 million by the end of this month. "We have exceeded the target of five million tourists. This is based on the average occupancy rate of major hotels in the state," he said replying to a question from Yee Seu Kai (DAP-Pokok Assam) in the state assembly here today.

Perak saw an increase of over 1,000 rooms via upgrading and construction of new hotels but they could not accommodate the arrival of tourists, especially on weekends.

Hamidah said there was difficulty to collect statistics on tourist arrivals to Perak because the state does not have a gateway that can record them. "For years we have been relying on statistics released by Tourism Perak which recorded total room occupancy of over 24 hours in selected hotels but it does not paint the true picture."

She said Perak has applied the calculation format for statistics of tourist arrivals used by Melaka based on private hospitals, colleges, homestays, museums, ferries and immigration. 

The state Exco member said the Perak government also took steps to promote Perak for the first time at the World Travel Mart in London recently. "A total of 4,000 travel agencies worldwide were involved in the exhibition and gave good exposure and positive impact to the Perak tourism industry," she said in reply to a supplementary question from Datuk Seri Raja Ahmad Zainuddin Raja Omar (BN-Kubu Gajah).

Among the tourism products that can attract the international market are Lenggong Valley world heritage site and Royal Belum State Park. 

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