1Malaysia dance tourism carnival launched
KOTA KINABALU: The tourism industry is very important to Malaysia’s economy as it is the second largest generator of the country’s revenue, said Deputy Tourism Minister Datuk Dr James Dawos.
In 2010, he disclosed that the World Tourism Organisation (WTO) ranked Malaysia number nine on its list in terms of tourist arrivals.
“Malaysia is also among the two countries from Asia
that are on the top 10 of WTO’s list and this is something we must be proud of,” he said when launching the ‘Karnival Pelancongan Tarian Cuti-Cuti 1Malaysia’ (TCC1M) yesterday.
Dawos added that Malaysia has again been listed in the Global Traveler Awards magazine as one of the best international destination for the business travelers.
He said in the American publication, Malaysia is ranked second after India and is followed by Italy, Spain and Fiji respectively.
This means that Malaysia is among the best in this category for the Asia region, he said, adding that it is the ministry’s objective to continue improving the country’s position as the choice of holiday destination for foreign tourists.
According to him, in 2011, the country recorded a total of 24.8 million visitors where 2.85 million of them had also visited Sabah.
“We expect the numbers to increase next year with the launch of Visit Sabah Year 2013 followed by Visit Malaysia Year 2014. I therefore urge all to work together towards ensuring that Sabah and Malaysia will be the choice of travelers. To achieve the target, the Tourism Ministry will not forget to instill the spirit of loving the country among the people,” he said, adding that ‘Think Tourism, Act Tourism’ is a very meaningful slogan and if implemented by all Malaysians, the country can be the best tourism destination in the world. On yesterday’s event, Dawos said that a total of 2,000 people are taking part in the TCC1M tourism carnival which was introduced by the Tourism Ministry in 2009. The carnival is a creative and innovative tourism product which not only helps to preserve culture and tradition, but is also a health activity and at the same time can attract foreign tourists to visit the country. The event is held every first Sunday of December and it was successfully conducted on December 2 at Dataran Putrajaya with a participation of more than 16,000 people from all over the country, he said, adding that after Sabah, the carnival will be held in Kuching on Dec 16.
“This year we are maintaining nine types of dance from zapin and joget to dances of the communities from Sabah and Sarawak as well as the Malaysia Truly Asia medley and a new introduction, the ‘I am for You’ dance routine,” he said. Dawos disclosed that the TCC1M is a participative tourism product and not a cultural dance performance as it is aimed at showcasing the diverse Malaysian communities to tourists through dance.
Source : Borneo Post
