Malaysia records more than 20 million tourists in first 9 months of 2019
Malaysia saw positive growth in the tourism sector in the first half of this year, boosted by stronger international tourist arrivals.
International tourist arrivals stood at 20,109,203 tourists between January and September, an increase of 3.7 per cent, compared to 19,386,115 visitors during the same period last year.
Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Datuk Mohamaddin Ketapi said the top 10 countries with the highest contribution of tourist arrivals was Singapore with 7,868,755 visitors, followed by Indonesia (2,792,776); China (2,413,956); Thailand (1,442,224); Brunei (929,789); India (539,167); South Korea (508,080); Vietnam (323,393); Japan (321,283) and the Philippines (317,294).
“Tourist receipts for the same period in 2019 reached RM66.14 billion compared to RM61.85 billion for the same period in 2018, indicating an increase of 6.9 per cent.
“The main contributors to the tourist expenditure were Singapore (RM16.3 billion), China (RM12.8 billion), Indonesia (RM8.8 billion), Thailand (RM2.8 billion) and India (RM2.5 billion).
“Per capita expenditure for the period of January to September also grew by 3.1 per cent from RM3,190.5 to RM3,289.3,” he said today in announcing the third quarter performance of the tourism sector.
Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Datuk Mohamaddin Ketapi left). - NSTP/LUQMAN HAKIM ZUBIR. The short haul market, Mohamaddin said, had retained its position as the largest contributor of tourists to Malaysia with a share of 68.7 per cent.
The contribution of tourists from the medium haul market was 21.6 per cent, while the share of tourists from the long haul market was 9.7 per cent, he added.
“The highest per capita according to market distance saw Saudi Arabia recording the most for long haul at RM11,394.4; China at RM5,301.5 for medium haul and Vietnam at RM3,356.3 for short haul.”
The minister also said the haze which had shrouded Malaysia and neighbouring countries such as Singapore, Thailand and Brunei had affected the momentum of tourist arrivals.
“I believe the tourist arrivals could be better without the haze.”
Tourism Malaysia director-general Datuk Musa Yusof said he believed that Malaysia would be able to achieve this year’s tourist arrival target of 28 million.
He said there would be a significant number of tourist arrivals towards the year end, especially in December from countries experiencing winter.
Malaysia normally records about 2.5 million tourist arrivals in Dec.
On tourist arrivals from China, Musa said Malaysia was still favoured by visitors from the country.
~New Straits Times~
NETS payment now available in KL, Melaka and Penang
Singaporean shoppers headed to Kuala Lumpur, Penang and Melaka will now be able to make purchases with their NETS ATM card.
The number of NETS acceptance points across Malaysia have increased from 4,500 to 7,400 points, and they can now be found in the three major cities in addition to Johor Bahru, said NETS and its Malaysian counterpart Payment Network Malaysia (PayNet) on Friday (Nov 29).
The service has expanded since it was first introduced in November 2018, when NETS said that Singapore consumers could use their NETS ATM cards in Johor Bahru malls like JB City Square, Sutera Mall and KSL City Mall.
Now, Singapore bank card holders who shop at KLIA 2 and Sunway Pyramid in Kuala Lumpur, Queensbay Mall in Penang as well as Makhota Parade and Dataran Pahlawan in Melaka will be able to pay with NETS.
The services will be available at multiple outlets, including retailers that are popular among Singaporeans such as Giant Hypermarket, pharmacy Guardian, medicinal store Eu Yan Sang and bak kwa chain Bee Cheng Hiang.
Malaysian travellers to Singapore may now also make purchases using MyDebit ATM cards, Malaysia’s national debit card scheme through 500 acceptance points.
MyDebit may be used through NETS' network of merchants at Bugis Village, as well as outlets like Apple retailer iStudio, Pandora, Awfully Chocolate and Salad Stop!.
The initiative was first announced in a joint statement in April by Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad and his Singapore counterpart Lee Hsien Loong.
EXCHANGE RATE "ALMOST THE SAME AS" MONEY CHANGERS
In an interview with CNA, Group CEO of NETS Jeffrey Goh highlighted that exchange rates will be competitive for Singaporean visitors who can now use NETS ATM cards instead of bringing wads of cash when they shop in Malaysia.
“So for example, when Singaporeans go to the grocer, and you don’t have enough cash, (this NETS service) gives them an option. It also gives them peace of mind knowing that we don’t charge them high forex rates,” said Mr Goh.
While the exchange rate could vary with every purchase, Mr Goh said that it was "almost the same as the money changers".
“For merchants, NETS service will bring customers to them. And customers (might) make bigger orders too as it's convenient for them,” he said.
When CNA visited an optician retailer at JB City Square, a Singaporean shopper who bought contact lenses with his NETS ATM card was charged with a conversion rate of S$1 to RM3.0248.
The rate was similar to the selling rate of S$1 to RM3.03 offered at a money changer at the same mall.
Singaporean Muhd Ismail Hassan, who visited JB City Square for a day trip, told CNA that expanding the use of NETS ATM card services to Kuala Lumpur, Melaka and Penang was a good idea.
“When we travel up, we don’t have to carry S$1,000 to S$2,000 of cash anymore. It’s more convenient for us when we shop at the malls in these places,” he said.
Mr Goh said that NETS is looking to increase the number of acceptance points to restaurants and shopping outlets in Malaysia that are popular among Singaporeans. He added that NETS is working with PayNet to offer QR code payments “within the next six months” for customers.
This means that Singaporean visitors to Malaysia, or Malaysian visitors to Singapore, will be able to make purchases via cashless payments services such as DBS PayLah via QR code transactions through their smartphones.
NETS was also working with partners in Indonesia and Thailand to enable cross-border instant fund transfers and QR payments in the future, he said.
Source: CNA/am(hm)
Decision on Airbnb next year, says Tourism D-G
Tourism Malaysia director-general Datuk Musa Yusof said to address the problem, the committee would continue to discuss the issue to find suitable solution. -BERNAMA
The task force on short-term residential accommodation, Airbnb will announce its decision by early next year, Tourism Malaysia director-general Datuk Musa Yusof said today.
He said the task force was set up to regulate Airbnb accommodations nationwide and would take note of examples from other countries such as France, Singapore and Japan.
“We will look into the issue. What we have implemented throu\gh the Tourism, Arts and Culture Ministry and the agency under the Housing and Local Government Ministry, is that we already set up a task force to look at what other countries have implemented in terms of Airbnb-type rentals.
“We expect to announce the decision early next year and it needs to be regulated. For example, in some locations, Airbnb accommodations are allowed but not in the big cities where there are hotels available,” he told reporters after launching the Visit Malaysia (VMY) 2020 Kick Off conference here today.
He said this in response to complaints made by hoteliers who claimed of experiencing a decline in occupancy rate despite the high number of tourists arriving in the country as most of them were choosing Airbnb.
Musa said to address the problem, the committee would continue to discuss the issue to find suitable solution.
“The concept of Airbnb in Europe and the US are different than it is in Asia. The Airbnb accommodations that I used to stay at, either in Europe or in the US, the guests stayed with the hosts, and we already have this concept here for the past 30 years and we call it homestay.
Homestay is more for the experiences while Airbnb is more of an accommodation. Only in Malaysia, the visitors are not staying with the owner and this will be regulated,” he said.
He said the matter would be looked at as a whole as there were several joint management bodies had disallowed Airbnb to operate in the condominium building as it was viewed as disruption.
Meanwhile, commenting on the conference, he said it was launched to further promote the promotional activities of the VMY 2020 campaign in the northern states. -- Bernama
Overload caused KTM server crash
KTM Bhd (KTMB) attributed “overwhelming demand” for ETS tickets that caused its ticketing servers to crash on Monday, frustrating tens of thousands of commuters.
The deluge, according to KTMB chief executive officer Datuk Kamarulzaman Zainal, came from the combination of demand associated with year-end school holidays, Christmas, Chinese New Year and Thaipusam, all of which was taking place from December until the end of February.
“We used to sell our tickets on a month-to-month basis but as we managed to secure a confirmed schedule from the contractor of the Klang Valley Double Track (KVDT) rehabilitation, we decided to open up the sale for the three-month block,” he told a press conference.
The KVDT rehabilitation is a massive project that had caused severe disruption to KTMB’s services running within the Klang Valley over the past few years as cargo, intercity, Komuter and ETS trains share either a pair of tracks and at work bottlenecks, only a single track.
Kamarulzaman said KTMB did its calculations before opening for the three-month block for sale on Monday.
“By our estimation, the ticketing system is supposed to be able to deal with the load,” he said adding that KTMB was also saddled with a “legacy” IT infrastructure that was purchased in 2000.
“It took up to 30 minutes to sell one ticket on Monday, and yesterday the time dropped to two minutes.
“We are truly sorry our customers had such an unpleasant experience,” he said, adding that the improvement was the result of several quick measures that were immediately implemented to address the situation.
Firstly, KTMB increased the bandwidth to its servers from 100Mbps to 200Mbps and secondly, it increased the number of central processing units used in its servers from 10 to 15.
For a longer-term solution, KTMB is embarking on a drive to embrace full digitisation of its infrastructure and services with substantial progress to be seen by the third quarter of next year.
“We already have a consultant studying our system so that it could be revamped.
“We expect to use ticketing systems that are on par with those used in aviation ticketing, as far as stability and reliability are concerned,” he said, adding that KTMB’s servers recorded nearly 400,000 users when sales opened, causing severe congestion.
Despite the chaos, KTMB still managed to sell up to 57,000 tickets by 10pm on Monday, with popular destinations being mostly north-bound, to places like Butterworth and Padang Besar.
A survey by The Star at KL Sentral yesterday found that a sense of calm had returned to the ticketing counters, with customers queuing calmly and orderly.
In Putrajaya, Transport Minister Anthony Loke expressed regret over Monday’s incident and said a substantial revamp of the ticketing system, which has weaknesses, was required.
“To this end, the ministry has directed KTMB to take remedial measures,” he said after attending a conference on bus rapid transit organised by Volvo Buses, Technology Depository Agency and Prasarana Malaysia Bhd.
~The Star~
Common signs 常见标语
BUKA
Open 开
TUTUP
Closed 关
MASUK
Entrance 入口
KELUAR
Exit 出口
TOLAK
Push推
TARIK
Pull 拉
TANDAS
Toilet 厕所
LELAKI
Men 男
WANITA / PEREMPUAN
Women 女
DILARANG MASUK
No Entry 不能进入
DILARANG MEROKOK
No Smoking 不能抽烟
JALAN SEHALA
One way traffic 单行道
KTM Komuter to use new schedule starting Nov 16
The KTM Komuter service will operate using a new time schedule effective Nov 16 following the Klang Valley Double Track (KVDT) Phase 1 and Phase 2 upgrading project.
Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad (KTMB), in a statement today, said the new schedule would involve 20 commuter train services for the Batu Caves-Pulau Sebang route and 14 Tanjung Malim-Port Klang-Tanjung Malim commuter train services.
"Both Phase 1 and Phase 2 are to upgrade the 25 years old railway tracks and carry out maintenance works and improve the electrical and communications system at the stations involved.
"The rehabilitation works of the railway tracks linking the Klang Valley sector are also being done to reduce delays and avoid cancellation of services," it said.
The KVDT1 project involving the Rawang-Salak Selatan and Simpang Batu-Sentul sectors is expected to be completed in July next year.
The KVDT2 project which involves the rehabilitation of railway tracks stretching from Salak Selatan to Seremban, and from Kuala Lumpur Sentral to Port Klang is scheduled for completion in September 2026.
Meanwhile, KTMB said following the new schedule, the commuter trains services for the Batu Caves-Pulau Sebang route would start and end at the Kajang Station.
For the Tanjung Malim-Port Klang-Tanjung Malim route which will start and end at the Sungai Buloh Station, the commuter service will operate using a single track between Rawang and Kepong.
-- BERNAMA
Seamless transfers now possible at Pasar Seni
Walking between the Pasar Seni LRT/MRT stations and KTM's Kuala Lumpur station (as well as to the National Mosque) is now more straightforward with the new bridge across Klang River.
KUALA LUMPUR: Regular LRT, MRT and KTM Komuter users who need to make transfers at KL Sentral can do so seamlessly now at Pasar Seni.
A new 102m-long pedestrian bridge linking the Pasar Seni LRT station with the KTM Kuala Lumpur station opened on Friday after more than two years of construction.
The fully covered bridge is equipped with a bi-directional travelator which spans 50m.
This link also enables users to reach Masjid Negara and its vicinity such as Taman Tugu easily as it shortens the walking distance.
Work had commenced in April 2016 as part of requirements for the Sungai Buloh-Kajang (SBK) MRT line.
The Pasar Seni MRT station is already seamlessly integrated with the Pasar Seni LRT station.
However, crossing the Klang River to get to the KTM Kuala Lumpur station still proved to be arduous with users having to walk a long route via Menara Dayabumi.
Built by Mass Rapid Transit Corporation Sdn Bhd (MRT Corp) under the SBK line scope of works, the work was undertaken by MRT project delivery partner, MMC-Gamuda KVMRT (PDP) Sdn Bhd, with Trans Resources Corp Sdn Bhd as the main contractor for the bridge.
The scope of work included improvements to the Pasar Seni LRT station concourse, as well as the entrance to Menara Dayabumi nearby.
MRT Corp CEO Abdul Yazid Kassim hoped that the new bridge would encourage more to use public transport.
“Seamless connectivity is an important element in public transportation, and without it, people will lose interest in using the service, ” he said.
“The bridge is also designed in such a way that it will enable ticketing integration between the MRT/LRT systems with the Komuter system in future.
“We hope that this last mile barrier in terms of fare integration will be solved one day, ” he said.
The ownership, operation and maintenance of the bridge will fall under Prasarana Malaysia Bhd.
~The Star~
云顶高原路段土崩 料今晚完成清理工作
搜救队伍周三在土崩地点，展开勘查行动。
著名度假胜地云顶高原的彩云阁受土崩影响的路段，预料于周三晚完成清理工作。
云顶消防及拯救局局长尤斯里指出，惟清理工作是否能如预期般完成，也需视天气而定，如果持续下雨，为了工作人员的安全，清理工作会暂停。
云顶通往彩云阁的路段，于周二傍晚5时40分发生山泥倾泻事故，往来云顶与彩云阁的路段被泥石覆盖，但没有影响前往云顶旅游景点的主要道路。
尤斯里说，至今仍持续发生小土崩，如果天气转晴，清理工作将在预定时间内完成。
根据无人机拍摄画面显示，土崩地区的道路料周三晚能完成清理工作。
他说，当局已开通另一条紧急道路，以供轻型车辆通行。
此外，针对逾200名游客受困于案发地点附近的酒店，他说，有关游客已于周三凌晨4时开始步行、再乘巴士往安全处。
~光华日报~
机场各造紧密合作 确保乘客无缝通关体验
吉隆坡第二国际机场(KLIA2)。
准备即将到来的2020年马来西亚旅游年，大马机场公司正与数个部门如内政部、旅游、艺术及文化部，甚至大马皇家警察、移民局、皇家关税局，以及陆路公共交通机构等政府机构紧密合作，以确保机场入境乘客有个无缝通关体验。
大马机场公司周四在一篇文告中，如是指出。
文告指出，当中主要措施包括在吉隆坡第二国际机场(KLIA2)重新安置Eraman免税店，作为因应机场入境区的扩充和重新配置。
文告说，新配置的布置和计划已在周三与以上的政府部门和机构代表分享，并且获得非常良好回应。有关重新配置将确保柜台和自动通关闸门安置在最佳地点，以及容许一个更舒适和顺畅的通关程序，便利乘客。
文告表示，吉隆坡第二国际机场入境区共有50个入境柜台和10个自动通关闸门。
文告指出，有关重新安置作业将从今晚开始，并将耗时约7周，至12月31日完成。
~光华日报~
