Develop niche programmes for Aussie tourists: Tourism Minister

ADELAIDE: Malaysia wants to develop niche tourism programmes to enhance bilateral ties and get more Australians to visit Malaysia, said Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ng Yen Yen. These include: - The Sandakan-Ranau heroes' trail for former Australian soldiers and their families in remembrance of the 2,000 Aussies soldiers who died in the death march during the Japanese occupation during the second world war, - Volunteerism tourism for students from Australia, where a one-year visa will be issued to 100 Aussies students to do volunteer work in Malaysia, - "Golden third age" packages to attract Australian retirees and their families to come and visit and live in Malaysia, - Establishing links with homestay associations in Australia, and - Setting up a Malaysia Living Arts Tourism package to lure Australian artists to Malaysia and turn Malaysia into Asean's very first live art tourism destination.

"We have identified many new exciting areas we can develop into very attractive tourism attractions for Australians. "My visit here has opened up many new ideas for development that can bring in more tourists from this part of the world to Malaysia. "There are many new things we can learn from the Australian tourism industry. For example, more than 500,000 tourists visit the Adelaide Arts Museum here. This is a tremendous figure.

Impressed: Dr Ng having a closer look of a human sculptor during her visit to the Adelaide Arts Museum yesterday.

"If we can do something similar in terms of arts for Malaysia, we can attract more Australians and visitors from other countries to visit us every year," she said after visiting the Adelaide Arts Museum Thursday. Dr Ng is on a 10-day mission to Australia and New Zealand to promote Malaysia.

She, however, expressed concern that there are still negative perceptions of Malaysia, over issues the alleged deforestation and destruction of orang utan habitats for oil-palm projects. "We need to clear the air over these issues. We need to explain to people here that Malaysia has policies in place to protect, preserve and conserve our forests and our eco assets. "There are many Aussies who expressed surprise that Malaysia actually has a ministry to handle environmental issues. They do not seem to know that. "Much more needs to be done to better inform foreign tourists about our efforts to protect our environment," she said.

Ng said her trip to Australia and New Zealand had opened up new areas of cooperation for bilateral tourism ties. Earlier, she called on Malaysian students in Australia to function as "tourism ambassadors" and help to sell Malaysia to their college and universities mates. These Malaysian students were in a prime position to help promote better understanding of Malaysia's multi-racial and multi-ethnic way of life, she said when visiting Malaysian students living and studying in Melbourne at Malaysia Hall. "Show them how well we can mix and live with people of all races. Malaysia is the place where we find such multi-racial harmony," she said.

-thestar online.