Plans afoot to draw affluent visitors through works of local artists

KUALA LUMPUR: See Malaysia through its works of art. This is the message that the Tourism Ministry hopes to relay worldwide to draw more affluent visitors to the country. “Through art, the ministry aims to develop Malaysian tourism into a high-yield, high-end industry,” said Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ng Yen Yen. “We want to fully optimise local artists and art galleries as our tourism products,” she said when launching the art catalogue of the up-coming Art Expo Malaysia 2010 here yesterday. The five-day event that starts on Oct 28 at the Matrade Exhibition and Trade Centre will feature art works from Malaysia and 18 other countries, including Argentina, China, Cuba, Ecuador, Germany and Japan.

Showcase of art: Dr Ng launching the art catalogue of the 4th International Art Expo Malaysia 2010 in Menara Dato’ Onn at the Putra World Trade Centre Wednesday.

Also included are Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Korea, Macau and Myanmar. The other countries are Pakistan, the Philippines, Singapore, Spain and Taiwan. Dr Ng said the ministry had begun promoting art shows and festivals to make people aware of Malaysian art. She cited, as an example, the 1Malaysia Contemporary Art Tourism Festival 2010 in July that drew more than 28,600 visitors and yielded more than RM1.7mil in sales. As for the annual Art Expo, which is going into its fourth year, Dr Ng said the ministry had been supportive of the event, which had proven to be financially successful.

The organisers target sales at the expo to be around RM8mil this year, improving from the RM5.6mil chalked up last year and RM5.3mil in 2008. With art tourism being one of its products, Dr Ng said the ministry hopes to increase tourist arrivals to 36 million by 2020, which is 1.5 times its current number, and tourism receipts to more than RM156bil, which is three times the current revenue.

-thestar online.