Kedah govt slammed for neglecting tourism

2009/10/04

ALOR SETAR, Sun: The Kedah government was today taken to task for neglecting tourism in the state.

Kedah Tourism Action Council chairman Datuk Othman Aziz said the state government had neglected tourism facilities and projects that had been handed over to it.

He cited as an example the RM6.44 million tourism project in Gunong Keriang near here which now had become an eyesore with the place unkempt and overrun by undergrowth.

"This was a federal project under the Ninth Malaysia Plan. It was completed in March and handed over to the Kedah government in April but now has become a sorry sight," he told reporters at the council's Aidifitri open house here today.

He further accused the Kedah government of not making serious efforts to draw in tourists so much so tourist arrivals at 600,000 last year was a 15 per cent drop from the 2.8 million arrivals recorded in 2007.

He added that the council was willing to work with the Kedah government to "put tourism back on track" in the state.
-- BERNAMA