KUALA LUMPUR: Tourism and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz has dismissed claims by several international portals that Kuala Lumpur is one of the most dangerous cities in the world.
He said foreign tourists should come to Malaysia to find out for themselves whether Kuala Lumpur was a safe tourist destination.
"We cannot do anything because when we say KL is safe, they do not believe.
So, I am inviting all foreign tourists to visit Malaysia and see for themselves how safe the city of KL is," he told reporters after a working visit to the Central Market here Friday.
He was commenting on claims by several international portals that Kuala Lumpur was one of the most unsafe cities now.
Nazri also rubbished claims that foreign tourists were not visiting KL now because its new logo and tagline were not attractive.
"Only a small number of people said the logo is unattractive. It is very subjective. This is not a big issue and has no effect on tourists," he said.
In a separate development, Nazri said his ministry was ready to form a tourism police team as proposed at the Global Tourism Cities Conference 2016.
He said if needed, Malaysia did not have any problems setting up the team or tourism courts throughout the country.
Commenting on his visit to the Central Market, Nazri said it has always attracted foreign tourists because it showcases the diverse cultures in Malaysia.
He said last year, the 128-year-old building received 4.2 million tourists.
Nazri also said 80% of the traders in Central Market were locals while only 20% were foreigners. – Bernama
BESTFBKL:
Here is some suggestions for the Tourism Ministry to consider:
-Stick to the Malaysia Truly Asia tag line and campaign
-Bring back the orang utan as the official mascot, 90 percent of all Malaysians cant even spell the new Mascot's name. For that matter the only other animal we should consider as the mascot should be the tiger since its in our coat of arms.
-Make sure every dollar counts in all spending by tourism. Too much money funding nonsense events.
- Stop appointing Malaysian "personalities" as Tourism Ambassadors, appoint foreign tourism ambassadors personalities from target countries, exception goes to Michelle Yeoh, Lee Chong Wei and Jimmy Choo.
-Improve the taxi service in Malaysia.
-Get the Rakyat involved in projects sponsored by Tourism Ministry give them some tickets and passes to the event through radio or tv promotions. As an examples, some years when I am fortunate to be Invited by the Government to attend F1 events, I get annoyed seeing middle level Ministry staff bringing all their little children for the event using passes that cost thousands of dollars each at the hospitality marquee. These children know nothing about F1 and just end up running around the place. This is a real misuse of Rakyats funds.
- When bringing foreign artist to Malaysia make sure some tickets allocated to the under privileged.
-Put some focus on senior citizens tourism market, since Malaysia is in the top 5 as a retirement haven in the world.
- Put more focus to highlight Eco and Medical Tourism.
BESTFBKL:
Here is some suggestions for the Tourism Ministry to consider:
-Stick to the Malaysia Truly Asia tag line and campaign
-Bring back the orang utan as the official mascot, 90 percent of all Malaysians cant even spell the new Mascot's name. For that matter the only other animal we should consider as the mascot should be the tiger since its in our coat of arms.
-Make sure every dollar counts in all spending by tourism. Too much money funding nonsense events.
- Stop appointing Malaysian "personalities" as Tourism Ambassadors, appoint foreign tourism ambassadors personalities from target countries, exception goes to Michelle Yeoh, Lee Chong Wei and Jimmy Choo.
-Improve the taxi service in Malaysia.
-Get the Rakyat involved in projects sponsored by Tourism Ministry give them some tickets and passes to the event through radio or tv promotions. As an examples, some years when I am fortunate to be Invited by the Government to attend F1 events, I get annoyed seeing middle level Ministry staff bringing all their little children for the event using passes that cost thousands of dollars each at the hospitality marquee. These children know nothing about F1 and just end up running around the place. This is a real misuse of Rakyats funds.
- When bringing foreign artist to Malaysia make sure some tickets allocated to the under privileged.
-Put some focus on senior citizens tourism market, since Malaysia is in the top 5 as a retirement haven in the world.
- Put more focus to highlight Eco and Medical Tourism.
