The glittering gala opening night of the sixth edition of ‘A Journey Through Time’ watch exhibition was held recently at Shook! restaurant and was attended by KL’s high society.
It was declared open by co-hosts Tourism Minister Datuk Sri Dr Ng Yen Yen and Tan Sri Francis Yeoh of YTL Group who banged a gong six times to signify South-East Asia’s biggest watch show which is now in its sixth year.
“Since YTL took over Starhill in 1999, the Malaysian Government has supported the tourism industry by lifting duties on watches, cameras and luxury goods. As a result, Jaeger LeCoultre and many others have opened their flagship stores in Kuala Lumpur,” said Yeoh.
“As proof, Kuala Lumpur is now a major shopping haven, it was voted Second Best Shopping City in the world by Globe Shopper Index after Hong Kong. When Singapore, which came in fifth after Shanghai and Beijing, heard this, they thought there must be some statistical error!
Added Dr Ng: “When ‘A Journey Through Time’ started in 2006, tourists spent RM6.6bil on shopping alone. “Last year, they spent RM17.6bil. By 2020, we expect tourists to shop to the tune of RM60bil!”
Dr Ng attributed Kuala Lumpur’s stunning success to what she called the 5 P’s. “First ‘P’ is Public Policy by the Government which has always supported tourism!
“The second ‘P’ is Private Enterprise and we need events like this to make Kuala Lumpur a top luxury shopping destination and visionaries like Tan Sri Francis Yeoh who will soon be a grandfather!
“Third ‘P’ is People followed by Products and finally Promotions! We cannot rest on our laurels but must continue to promote, push, promulgate and press harder for publicity in print and multimedia.”
She noted tourists usually spend 30% of their holiday budget on shopping. In the Globe Shopper Index for the Best Shopping Cities in Asia, Hong Kong was first followed by Malaysia, Shanghai, Beijing, Singapore, Sydney, Bangkok, Tokyo, Seoul and Delhi.
In the midst of dinner, Dr Ng received news that CNN had placed Kuala Lumpur as the World’s 4th Best Shopping City. She shepherded her team on stage to announce this newsbreaking event as the crowd applauded. The exhibition is currently ongoing until Dec 1 at Starhill Gallery, Kuala Lumpur.
-thestar online.
http://www.ajourneythroughtime.com.my/
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