Visit Malaysia Year Promotions In China Resume

KUALA LUMPUR, June 1 (Bernama) -- The Visit Malaysia Year (VMY) 2014 promotional programmes in China will be resumed after they were postponed since March following the tragedy over the disappearance of the Malaysia Airlines (MAS) flight MH370.

Tourism and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz said the promotions would be carried out soon following positive reaction from the working visit by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak to that country in conjunction with the 40th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Malaysia and China.

"The prime minister's visit to China had to a certain extent pacified the situation and had given positive reaction, especially since we already have good relations with China, to the extent that they were willing to loan us two giant pandas.

"I was made to understand there was a memorandum of understanding signed between Malaysia and China in the tourism sector, although I was not present as I paid my last respects to the late Sultan Azlan Shah (who died on Thursday)," he said. He said this at a media conference on the cooperation between Tourism Malaysia and Sango Taxi Association, Japan here Sunday.

Meanwhile, Mohamed Nazri said Malaysia monopolised tourism promotion advertisements via taxis in seven major cities in Japan, through the close cooperation between Tourism Malaysia and taxi companies in the "Land of the Rising Sun". He said 840 taxis in Osaka, Tokyo, Kobe, Yokohama, Fukuoka, Nagoya and Sapporo carried pictures of tourism products in Malaysia apart from brochures.

"Taxi drivers from Japan are also brought to Malaysia in stages to see for themselves the attractions in Malaysia so that they can tell the same to their passengers. "We all know taxi drivers in Japan are noted for their honesty and manners. Not only that, the taxi medium is good for advertising purposes because taxis there operate non-stop," he said. Also present was Sango Taxi Association president Yamane Shigetaka.
 
Shigetaka through an interpreter said he was amazed at what Malaysia offered in terms of tourism and could not wait to go back to tell his countrymen the same.
-bernama.