More than 27,059 travellers visited 14 tourist attractions in Penang, says Yeoh Soon Hin, Penang Tourism and Creative Economy committee Chairman after the launch of the Responsible Tourism campaign at Angsana Hotel.
The massive rise in visitors in the past week since interstate travel was allowed was reported by the Association of Tourist Attractions Penang, which compiled data for these tourist attractions for the period between October 11 and 19 without taking into account the public places and other attractions.
The 14 places were Penang Hill, Penang Bird Park, The Habitat Penang Hill, Audi Dream Farm, Tropical Spice Garden, Monkeycup Garden, Pinang Peranakan Mansion, The TOP Penang, Tropical Fruit Farm, Cheah Kongsi, Wonderfood Museum, Penang 3D Trick Art, Tech Dome Penang and Dark Mansion.
Yeoh said the beach hotels in Penang recorded a 75 percent occupancy rate, while accommodation located within the George Town Unesco world heritage site recorded 70 per cent occupancy rate while those in other parts of the island recorded between 45 and 50 per cent.
Citing figures from the Penang chapter of the Malaysian Association of Hotels, Yeoh added that hotels in Seberang Perai also recorded a 65 percent occupancy rate.
Yeoh said the state government has launched a set of tourism guidelines for both visitors and operators.
The guidelines under the state’s Responsible Tourism campaign required operators to inspect the vaccination certificates of visitors and provide daily self-update of Covid-19 risk status. Yeoh also advised visitors to take the Covid-19 self-tests prior to traveling to Penang.
“At the same time, we also encourage operators to conduct a Covid-19 self-test for its employees every two weeks and to adopt an online appointment mechanism for better crowd control,” he said.
Tourism operators and visitors can obtain a copy of the guidelines from www.petace.gov.my/SOP.
