GEORGE TOWN: The Tourism Ministry has asked the Penang state government to use the Personal Watercraft (Penang) Enactment 1999 against unlicensed traders and beach activity operators. “Come out with guidelines for these operators to comply with before granting them a permit,” Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ng Yen Yen said at a press conference at Penang International Airport here, Dr Ng said the issuance of permits for water sports activities comes under the purview of the state government as the Tourism Ministry was only responsible for issuing licences for tour operators, tourist guides and tour buses.
She said Penang police would hold a meeting with all agencies involved today to come up with a long-term solution for beach touts. Dr Ng was commenting on reports of unruly beach touts who allegedly endangered hotel guests’ safety and harassed them to take part in beach activities.
“We have a total of 5.4 million tourists visiting Penang in 2009 and of those, 1.2 million visited Batu Ferringhi. “600,000 tourists visited the Batu Ferringhi beach so this is a very serious matter,” she said. About 70 unlicensed operators offer beach-related activities – buggy rides, horse riding, parasailing and water scooters – along the 3km-long stretch. A joint operation by state and federal agencies, codenamed Ops Sepadu, will be taking place today to put a stop to the illegal activities which have marred the image of the famous stretch for decades.
-thestar online.
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