M'sia Confident Of 29.4 Mil Tourist Arrivals This Year - Nazri

PUTRAJAYA, March 30 (Bernama) -- Malaysia is confident of attracting 29.4 million tourist arrivals this year, in conjunction with the Malaysia Year of Festivals 2015 (MyFEST 2015), says Tourism and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz.

In view of this, he said the target could be achieved with a revenue of RM89 billion if the tourism and culture industry players continued to promote Malaysia's great diversity of food in a holistic and relevant approach.

"The private sector and government must work hand-in-hand to ensure the success of this campaign by the ministry, in order to successfully generate more revenue for the country," he said at the launch of D'Tandoor International Group of Restaurants new menu here today.

His speech was read out by the ministry's deputy secretary-general, Datuk Rashidi Hasbullah.

Being a prime contributor to the nation's socio-economic development, Mohamed Nazri said the tourism receipts had increased significantly to RM72 billion last year as compared to RM65.4 billion in 2013.

Through D'Tandoor's global network, he said strategic partnership would provide limitless opportunities to reach out to an unprecedented audience.

"It is for this reason the ministry has embarked on strategic partnership with D'Tandoor, an initiative under the National Blue Ocean Strategy for the restaurant to showcase the best of what we have to offer during the MyFest 2015."

He noted that D'Tandoor, a 100 per cent Bumiputra-owned company would play a role as an intermediary for the tourism industry through their restaurants to promote 'Food Tourism' in the labeling and marketing of Malaysia through its food.

Overlooking the Putrajaya lake, patrons can not only enjoy delicious North Indian food but also Malaysian and Arab cuisine while taking in the beautiful view of the majestic Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin mosque across the lake.

D'Tandoor Food Industries Sdn Bhd managing director Datuk Abdul Malik Abdullah said the Putrajaya outlet was the 17th restaurant opened by the company.

"The restaurant has at least 20 types of naan bread and their speciality dish is the 24-hour roasted whole leg of lamb called Raan Srikandi, which can serve six to eight persons," he said.
-bernama.