Ministry plans to open tourism office in Almaty by end of year

PUTRAJAYA: The Tourism Ministry is planning to open an office in Almaty, Kazakhstan, by year-end to take advantage of growing interest from people in the country and its surrounding region, said Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ng Yen Yen. 

She said this will be done in line with the decision to close the tourism office in Vancouver, Canada. “The Canadian market is not as dynamic as we wish it to be. Accessibility is also a great challenge, as well as the distance. “We already have a tourism office in Los Angeles, so we think that can also cover Canada,” she said at a press conference after signing a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Kenyan Tourism Ministry at her office here yesterday.

On the move to Almaty, Dr Ng said they were now finalising talks with their Kazakh counterparts and are optimistic of growing interest in Malaysia. She said airline operators in Kazakhstan are keen on increasing the frequency of direct flights between the two countries to five days a week, and possibly even daily flights.

“With seven months of winter annually, the Kazakhstan government is working on developing its tourism market into a winter destination — a perfect complement to Malaysia’s tropical offerings,” she added. Dr Ng said in 2010, Malaysia received some 11,000 tourists from Kazakhstan and the figure grew to 17,000 last year.

Earlier, Dr Ng said her ministry will have to study the feasibility of direct air links between Kuala Lumpur and Nairobi, Kenya, as Malaysia is already using Johannesburg in South Africa as its gateway into Africa. Kenyan Tourism Minister Denson Mwazo said both countries would benefit from a tie-up, as Nairobi is the gateway to East Africa and is a strategic access point to some 220 million people living in six countries in the region.

-thestar online.