GEORGE TOWN – Seeing that the annual World Tourism Day’s theme this year is “Tourism for Inclusive Growth”, Penang plans on “opening windows of opportunities” for smaller and non-traditional tourism players.
State Tourism and Creative Economy Committee chairman Yeoh Soon Hin pointed out that Penang has already aligned its tourism vision with the theme of inclusivity.
“Under this theme, the UNWTO (United Nations World Tourism Organisation) reaffirms its pledge to build a more prosperous and peaceful world through tourism, and to leave no one behind in its journey forward.
“This is evident through the Penang Tourism Master Plan that was launched early this year. Under the master plan, we advocated for the diversification of tourism products and detailed the importance to advance less popular tourism sub-sectors such as eco-, heritage, arts, and cultural tourism,” he said.
At the same time, Yeoh pointed out that the state’s blueprint for the industry over the next 10 years has already detailed strategies to capture the “essence of inclusivity, diversity and accessibility”.
Furthermore, he said the state will continue to gradually build a more robust, vibrant and resilient future for Penang’s tourism landscape post-Covid-19, besides supporting smaller and unconventional industry players.
The UNWTO 2021 theme this year calls the industry to look beyond statistics numbers to acknowledge potential socio-economic impacts pertaining to the sector.
“We will celebrate this year’s World Tourism Day by harbouring hopes that the state government’s continuous efforts will create a shared prosperity for all to enjoy such as employment opportunities and revenue growth, similar to what UNWTO has put forth: Tourism for Inclusive Growth,” he added. – The Vibes, September 27, 2021
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