Ng: Malaysia poised to become luxury goods haven

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia is carving a niche as the destination for luxury goods shopping, said Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ng Yen Yen. She said retailers had much to look forward to as Malaysia would be a duty free haven for most luxurious goods, including watches and jewellery, effective Jan 1. “It is important to ensure an enabling environment for the industry.

‘Watch’ this: Ng enjoying Yeoh’s performance with Australian singer Delta Goodrem during the Watch of the Year award Gala Night at Starhill Saturday night.

“Last year, we received RM10bil from shopping tourism. “Our target is to have 36 million tourists and RM168bil in tourism receipt by 2020, and we are expecting 35% to be from shopping receipts,” she said in her speech at the ‘A Journey Through Time IV - Watch of the Year Awards 2010 Gala Night’ held at the Starhill Gallery yesterday. Also present was YTL Corp Bhd group managing director and organiser Tan Sri Dr Francis Yeoh and Tourism Malaysia ambassador Datuk Jimmy Choo.

Dr Ng said duty-free shopping was part of the steps being taken to create a conducive environment for such shoppers. “The 6km walkway to be built in the Bukit Bintang area will help encourage shopping and boost sales,’’ she added. Yeoh said duty-free shopping would create a snowball effect on luxury retail and the tourism industry overall. An extensive array of exclusive timepieces from many watch houses, some of which have stand-alone boutiques in Starhill Gallery, were paraded in a week-long event themed “Time to Love.” Dr Ng presented the Tourism Malaysia Most Revered Award to the Richard Mille brand for its RM010 Sepang F1 model watch.

-thestar online.