Chinese tourists swarm mall

Shopping frenzy: A group of tourists elated with their purchases

at M Mall in Penang Times Square.

GEORGE TOWN: Thousands of Chinese tourists, said to be members of MBI Group, were having a shopping spree at M Mall in Penang Times Square. 

The five-day shopping carnival organised by the group saw the members spending their loyalty reward points at the mall on groceries, household products and other items.

Among the crowd, business owner Li Tie Zhu, 45, from Yingchuan, China, was spotted carrying shopping bags during the carnival which would end on Tuesday.

Li said he used his MBI loyalty reward points to exchange for goods at the mall.

“I bought mostly coffee. We will definitely want to come again,” he said.

Another tourist, who wished to be known as Shen, said shopping in Penang is appealing.

“Besides shopping, we also get to do some sightseeing here as well,” she said.

Tour guide Gong Qingjie said his group comprised some 30 tourists from the Heilongjiang province in China.

“In total, there’s probably around 200 from the province who are here,” he said.

He added that they arrived in Malaysia on Thursday and would be going to Danok, Thailand, today.

The mall, set up by the company in December 2015, sells various consumer products apart from featuring restaurants and other service outlets.

The MBI members also attended their awards night at SPICE Arena last night.

Many Penangites seemed to be aware of the large influx of Chinese tourists coming in bus loads as messages on phone chat groups telling friends to avoid the SPICE Arena and town area have gone viral.

Many hotels, especially in the city, are fully booked until early next week.

“This happened before. They bring many family members along to visit Penang while the members attend the company’s dinner and activities.

“Most of the hotels on the island were fully booked.

“Their hotel bookings even went as far as Ipoh,” said a hotel manager who declined to be name.

The company started in Penang and is now headquartered in Kuala Lumpur.

-thestar online.

1,000 dijangka sertai Warriors Challenge @ N9

MOHAMAD HASAN (tengah) dan Sazali Ismail (empat dari kiri) bergambar bersama ahli PVATM dalam Majlis Pelancaran Warriors Challenge @ N9 di Seremban hari ini. - UTUSAN ONLINE/IZZUL AHMAD

SEREMBAN 28 Okt. - Seramai 1,000 peserta dijangka menyertai acara larian ala tentera, Warriors Challenge @ N9 yang bakal diadakan di Port Dickson pada Mac tahun depan.

Yang Dipertua Persatuan Veteran Angkatan Tentera Malaysia (PVATM), Mejar (B) Datuk Sazali Ismail berkata, acara tersebut melibatkan jarak larian sejauh lapan kilometer yang bakal menguji ketahanan peserta.

"Kita yakin dapat mengumpulkan 1,000 peserta bagi acara tersebut. Kita juga akan mengadakan pelbagai aktiviti menarik seperti pertandingan mewarna dan gerai jualan semasa pertandingan itu," katanya dalam Majlis Pelancaran Warriors Challenge @ N9 di sini hari ini.

Pelancaran acara tersebut telah disempurnakan oleh Menteri Besar, Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan.

Yang turut hadir Pengerusi Jawatankuasa Bertindak Pelancongan negeri, Datuk Tun Hairuddin Abu Bakar.

Pada majlis itu, Mohamad turut menyampaikan sumbangan RM100,000 kepada Tabung Pahlawan.

-utusan online.

Norrodin And Sasaki Ready To Fight Hard For Home Crowd

Sepang International Circuit, Malaysia – Saturday 28th October
Circuit: Sepang International Circuit
Circuit Length: 5.5 km
Bike #7 – Adam Norrodin
QP: P15; 2’13.847 – 12 laps
Bike #71 – Ayumu Sasaki
QP: P14; 2’13.792 – 12 laps
SIC Racing Team riders Adam Norrodin and Ayumu Sasaki will line up on the fifth row for tomorrow’s Malaysian Grand Prix, after qualifying in 14th [Ayumu] and 15th [Adam] place.
 
Johan Stigefelt – Team Manager
“The weekend has started very well for Adam and there have been a lot of positives throughout the three practice sessions, so it’s a shame that qualifying didn’t go quite as we would have liked, or expected. We’ve seen from the start that Adam has a very good pace here and can do fast lap times on his own, but in qualifying you need that little bit extra and unfortunately today we didn’t find it. In any case Adam starts in a decent position tomorrow and I’m confident that regardless of where he lines up, he will make a strong start, get to the front group and fight with the leaders.
Ayumu has been struggling a little bit more in the free practice sessions here, so to finish fourteenth today, he has done a good job. The starting position is so important for him because as we have seen before he can be very strong in the races, if he can just make a good start and have a solid first few laps. If he does this I think he will be fighting up there in the top ten as well.”

#7 Adam Norrodin
“I’m disappointed because we were capable of a much better qualifying today. All weekend we have been strong and I have felt confident in myself and with the bike. I was sure we could do really well today.
I wanted so much to qualify at the front for my home race, to make sure that I would be in the first group tomorrow. The session started well for us and we were always in the top ten; I did all my lap times alone too but in the end this is what prevented me from improving any further because all the riders in the group were fast and passed me on the final lap. This is Moto3 qualifying though, it’s very tough, very competitive and the smallest things can make the biggest difference.
Fifteenth for me is not that bad but I expected more here at Sepang because we have the pace. Nevertheless the weekend is not over and the most important day is tomorrow. This is my only focus now; I have to really concentrate and prepare myself to fight hard; I can’t let the front group go.
 
#71 Ayumu Sasaki
“Today was a difficult qualifying. In FP3 this morning it had been raining so the track was half wet and I couldn’t really push. In terms of our set-up we started QP pretty much from zero, like FP1, so to finish 14th is not so bad but I’m not happy about it. We have these unlucky times and now we just have to work hard to improve for tomorrow. Warm Up will be very important because I want to change the bike settings a little bit so that I can try to be up at the front in the race. I hope we can have a good race for the Malaysian fans.”

-SIC Racing Team facebook.

Launching The Southern Thai Packages To Malaysia By Honorable Minister Of Tourism & Culture, Malaysia

HATYAI, 13 October 2017: Tourism Malaysia launched the “Southern Thai Packages to Malaysia” at the Centara Hotel, Hat Yai to promote the connectivity of cross-country routing with the aim to boost the number of Thai tourists from the south Thailand to Malaysia.

More than 80 delegates from travel agents and members of the media from southern Thailand attended the event and witnessed the launch of the "Southern Thai Packages Malaysia" which promotes the Thailand-Malaysia connectivity cross-country initiative. The interesting rail packages are combined with several attractions and activities including theme parks, city and night tours which will help to promote rail tourism. This programme also aims to strengthen the cooperation between Malaysia and Thailand, as well as to commemorate the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations between our two countries this year.

The Minister of Tourism and Culture of Malaysia, YB Dato' Seri Mohamed Nazri bin Abdul Aziz, welcomed guests at the launching event to personally thank travel agents and media for their dedicated efforts and constant support in promoting tourism in Malaysia in Southern Thailand.

In 2016, it was registered 26.7 million tourist arrivals to Malaysia with RM82.1 billion tourist receipts. Malaysia welcomed 1.78 million Thai tourists, an increase of double digit growth of 32.7% compared to the previous year with RM3.5 billion tourist receipts. Thailand was ranked 4th in top ten tourists generating markets. At the same time, in 2016, Malaysia was ranked number two in term of tourist arrivals to Thailand with the number of 3.5 million, showing an increase of 3.36 percent compared to 2015.

This year, the target is set of 1.8 million tourist arrivals from Thailand. The theme ‘Malaysia Truly Asia’ will continue to be used to promote Malaysia as a preferred holiday destination. From January to May, Malaysia received about 813,000 Thai tourists – an increase of 9.8 percent.

Overall, Malaysia is believed to be an achievable target because the Thais are more adventurous in their holiday plans and Malaysia is just across the border. Packages start as low as THB 4,200 are offered by South Thailand agents in the market to various destinations in Malaysia such as Genting Highlands, Cameron Highlands, Penang, Kuala Lumpur, Langkawi, Ipoh etc.

Various market segments such as family travel, leisure-seekers, religious travel and shopping lovers, are all potential areas. Malaysia has all these attributes to meet the demands of the Thais tourists.

These unique packages offer Thai tourists more options to travel by road, rail, sea, or air. This initiative will definitely help boost arrivals from Thailand to Malaysia.

In order to enhance the “Southern Thai Packages to Malaysia”, it is collaborated with the Malayan Railways Limited or Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad (KTMB) to promote Rail Packages as another alternative for Thai tourists, especially those from Southern Thailand, to visit Malaysia. Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad is offering daily 7 times ETS services from Padang Besar to Kuala Lumpur Central with a total of 2,184 seats per day. Five travel agents from Southern Thailand namely Sunny Tours, Happy Time 1009 Group, KST Travel, Hatyai Four Seasons Travel, and Sahachai Travel & Service have agreed to work with Tourism Malaysia to promote this package.

Meanwhile, Tourism Malaysia is also promoting the upcoming event in Malaysia – the Kuala Lumpur International Craft Festival 2017. It will be held at Putrajaya Square from 23 to 26 November. The event will present a market of handmade items from around the world, under the theme “Crafts Unite People”. KLICF 2017 will feature cultural performances, craft demonstrations, and craft exhibitions, where Malaysian and foreign artists, as well as online entrepreneurs, will be showcasing their crafts from all over the world.

Moreover, Malaysian government is working towards extending the operation hours of the immigration checkpoint at Bukit Kayu Hitam. It is targeting the 24-hour operation of the checkpoint will be effective on 1 January 2019. This development will be another positive step towards welcoming more Thai tourists via road travel. As Malaysia and Thailand shared 8 border land-crossing points, this will hopefully be a good start to further facilitate and streamline cross-border travel between two countries.

It is hoped that all these efforts will encourage trade partners and media to continue promoting Malaysia as a preferred holiday destination for Thai tourists.

-Tourism Malaysia.

Mitsui Outlet Park <=> Sepang International Circuit Free Shuttle Bus ( 27 ~ 29 October 2017 )

https://www.mitsuioutletparkklia.com.my/schedule2.pdf
-https://www.mitsuioutletparkklia.com.my/

Johor jadi pilihan program MM2H

TEE SIEW KIONG (kiri) beramah mesra dengan ahli Persatuan Agensi Malaysia Rumah Keduaku (MM2H) dalam majlis minum petang di Hotel Amari, Johor Bahru, semalam.

JOHOR BAHRU 24 Okt. – Lebih 14,000 daripada 34,531 peserta program Malaysia Rumah Kedua­ku (MM2H) memilih Johor berbanding negeri lain sebagai destinasi pilihan mereka.

Pengerusi Jawatankuasa Pe­lancongan, Perdagangan dan Kepenggunaan negeri, Datuk Tee Siew Kiong berkata, peserta program tersebut datang daripada 127 negara.

Beliau berkata, peserta program tersebut dianggarkan telah berbelanja sebanyak RM13.8 bilion sejak program itu diperke­nalkan lebih 10 tahun lalu. 

“Johor terus menjadi destinasi pilihan untuk peserta yang mengikuti program tersebut berdasarkan beberapa faktor, an­taranya lokasi, akses kesihatan serta infrastruktur yang dimiliki negeri ini,” katanya dalam sidang akhbar selepas menghadiri Jamuan Petang MM2H 2017 di Hotel Amari, di sini semalam.

Yang turut hadir, Pengarah Kanan Bahagian Promosi Antarabangsa (Asia/Afrika) Kementerian Pelancongan, Datuk Musa Haji dan Penolong Pengarah Kanan Pusat Malaysia Rumah Keduaku, Datin Sharifah Ikhlas Syed Ismail Aljaffree. 

Siew Kiong yang juga Ahli Dewan Undangan Negeri (ADUN) Pulai Sebatang berkata, pihak­nya akan terus bekerjasama dengan kerajaan Pusat dalam menarik lebih ramai peserta untuk mengikuti program tersebut, khususnya di negeri ini. 

Antara negara yang menca­tatkan penyertaan tertinggi menerusi program tersebut adalah China, Jepun, Bangladesh, Uni­ted Kingdom dan Iran.

-utusan online.

SIC RACING TEAM Set High Hopes For Home Grand Prix

Sepang International Circuit, Malaysia – Wednesday 25th October 

Circuit: Sepang International Circuit
Circuit Length: 5.5 km

The prestigious Sepang International Circuit, home to the SIC Racing Team and Malaysian rider Adam Norrodin, will host the penultimate round of the 2017 MotoGP Championship this weekend. 

Following a solid top ten result for both riders last time out at Phillip Island, the SIC Racing Team head to the Malaysian Grand Prix, motivated and determined to continue their run of form in front of their home crowd. 

Adam Norrodin has his sights firmly set on a top five fight to the line, with teammate Ayumu Sasaki looking to follow suit with another point scoring finish. 

#7 Adam Norrodin
“This Grand Prix is the one I have been waiting for all year! It’s so good to come back for my home GP and see all the crowd and have my family and friends with me. I’m going to enjoy this weekend a lot. 

After the last race at Phillip Island I’m feeling very confident. We are not so far away and coming stronger race by race. Finishing eighth in Australia has motivated me even more to do better at Sepang this weekend. I want to be minimum, top five. Of course the podium is in my mind and if the opportunity comes I will take it! I want more than anything to do my best here in front of our home crowd. We have nothing to lose!” 

#71 Ayumu Sasaki
“The last race was really good for the team and for myself; I feel I have gained confidence ahead of the team’s home race. 

I think we have a lot of positives coming to Malaysia. We tested here already at the beginning of the year and both Adam and I did well. 

This is also one of the best tracks for me; I rode here a lot when I was competing in the Asia Talent Cup and have won at Sepang before. It’s a great track and I know it well! 

We have to focus again for the practice but I will try to be up there like in Australia. Qualifying is what has let me down many times this year, so this is what we will really have to work on to improve this weekend. 
I want to be able to fight in the front group again and finish in the points.”

-SIC Racing Team facebook.