KUANTAN: Up to Nov 30, 14 million tourists have visited Pahang, compared with 13.4 million last year.
Tourism Pahang general manager Datuk Ishak Mokhtar said two mega events, namely Pesta Air Chenor in Maran in April and the Royal Pahang Billfish International Challenge in September, would attract more tourists next year.
He said Pahang recorded the highest number oftourist arrivals in the country last year, with 9.2 million tourists, followed by Johor (7.8 million) and Perak (7.6 million).
State Tourism and Culture Committee chairman Datuk Seri Mohd Sharkar Shamsudin said popular highland attractions — like Genting Highlands, Cameron Highlands, Fraser’s Hill and Janda Baik — continued to be major crowd pullers.
He said top beaches like Cherating, Teluk Chempedak and Tioman were also popular.
Other attractions, he said, included the National Park and the National Elephant Conservation Centre in Kuala Gandah, Lanchang, where visitors could feed, bathe and take pictures with elephants.
“With many interesting places to visit and a lot of things to do, visitors are spoilt for choice.”
He said tourists could plan their holidays according to their needs and budget due to a wide range of accommodation, facilities and packages offered.
“For example, if someone plans to visitthe beach during the monsoon season, they can try surfing. Or if they want to try the state’s delicacies, they can ride on highpowered motorcycles to Temerloh on a Sunday to visit Pekan Sehari and taste the famous ikan patin dishes.”
Sharkar said Bentong recorded the highest number of tourist arrivals in Pahang last year with 8.3 million, followed by Kuantan (2.4 million) and Cameron Highlands (1.4 million).
In JOHOR BARU, it is hoped that more tourists would visit the state in conjunction with the Visit Johor Year 2020.
Tourism Johor director Zihan Ismail said up to last month, the state recorded 14.91 million foreign tourists compared with 14.28 million in the same period last year.
She said the state recorded 7.8 million local tourists last year.
Zihan added that Tourism Johor had lined up a “20 events and 20 destinations” plan to attract more tourists.
“There are a number of events and new destinations that we will focus on.”
She said among the major events were Sukan Malaysia 2020 in July and the Pasir Gudang International Kite Festival.
“Next year will be the 25th anniversary of the kite event and we plan to attract more participants.”
Zihan said Tourism Johor would promote different segments for different markets.
“For the Japanese market, for example, we will focus on promoting cultural products. This is based on the feedback we received.
“For the Indian market, we will promote the state’s administrative capital, Kota Iskandar, in Iskandar Puteri because many Indian tourists like to go there to take their pre-wedding pictures as there are many beautiful buildings.”
Another new destination that would be promoted, she said, was the Skyscape at Komtar JBCC, a 150m-high observation deck that was recently opened by Sultan of Johor Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar.
“Visitors can find out about these tourism products on our newly-revamped website, which will be launched early next year, as well as through our Facebook page.”