New date for TPO forum

The opening date of the three-day Fifth Tourism Promotion Organisation (TPO) Forum for Asia Pacific has been changed to Sept 18 this year. 


Penang Municipal Council (MPPP) president Patahiyah Ismail said the date was changed so that delegates from Vietnam and South Korea could attend the bi-annual forum. “The forum was originally scheduled to be held from Sept 5 to Sept 7 at the Shangri-La’s Rasa Sayang Resort & Spa in Batu Ferringhi. “We are trying our best to allow more representatives to come over,” she said, adding that a total of 68 city mayors and 32 industry players are expected to attend the forum. Patahiyah said the forum was aimed at reaching out to the industry players so that a tourism partnership could be formed among the member cities.


“Among the programmes lined up included discussions on heritage tour on trishaws and the establishment of the Friendship Park in Farquhar Street,” she told a press conference on Thursday. Also present were state Local Government and Traffic Management Committee chairman Chow Kon Yeow and state Youth and Sports, Women, Family and Community Development Committee chairman Lydia Ong Kok Fooi. TPO was established in 2002 to create an inter-city network besides boosting the tourism industry in all member cities in the Asia Pacific region with its secretariat based in Busan, Korea.


The member cities are Dalian, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Hong Kong, Qingdoa, Sanya, Shanghai, Shenyang, Urumqi, Weihai and Xian in China; Fukuoka, Kagoshima, Kitakyushu, Kumamoto, Miyazaki, Nagasaki, Naha, Oita, Osaka, Saga, Sasebo and Shimmonoseki in Japan; and Andong, Busan, Daegu, Daejeon, Gwangju, Gyeongju, Jeonju, Ulsan in South Korea.


The four cities from Malaysia are Ipoh, George Town, Kota Kinabalu and Malacca while others are Brisbane (Australia), Jakarta (Indonesia), Auckland (New Zealand), Manila (Philippines), Vladivostok (Russia), Bangkok (Thailand), Honolulu (United States) and Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam).
-thestar online.
www.aptpo.org