GEORGE TOWN, Feb 24 – In line with the spirit of 1Malaysia to foster unity, understanding, and goodwill among the various ethnic communities in the country, Tourism Malaysia organized a special celebration today at Esplanade here this evening. This is the first year Tourism Malaysia and Penang State Government jointly to organizing the event in conjunction with the recently concluded celebration of Chinese New Year nation-wide.
Also present were the Minister of Tourism and Culture Malaysia, Dato’ Deri Nazri Abdul Aziz; Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng and wife Betty Chew; and Tourism Malaysia Chairman, Dato’ Dr. Siew Ka Wei. The event attracted about 10,000 people including foreign tourists and locals.
Among the highlights were the rich culture heritage of the Chinese community in the country, lion dance, rooster decorations, and cultural dance performance. Local artistes Jaclyn Victor, Black Mentor, Ernie Zakri and Sheng Quang, were also on hand to entertain the crowd. In line with the festive spirit, ang pows were also distributed to the underprivileged such as The Penang Home and more.
The celebration is also in line with Tourism Malaysia’s effort to boost domestic tourism and encourage Malaysians to travel locally for their holidays as the country is blessed with many fascinating destinations. Penang is the perfect venue to host the celebration as about 41.5% of its 1.6 million population are Chinese. Penang is also a well-known food paradise and a major tourist destination for its beautiful beaches, nature, anf historical heritage.
In 2008, its capital George Town, was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Recently, Penang has added several new tourists attractions, namely The Habitat on Penang Hill (a nature-based attraction); Design Billage Penang putlet mall (the forst outlet mall in the northern region); and the TOP at Komtar Penang featuring the Rainbow Skywalk, which is a viewing deck with glass floor. These attraction are making Penang even more attractive to visit now.
Over the years, Penang has also garnered various international accolades. Penang came in second in CNN’s ’17 Best Places to Visit in 2017′ while George Town was stated as one of the two main medical centres in Malaysia by internationalliving.com. The international CNN Money portal listed George Town as the 6th best place in the world to retire in 2016. The portal described George Town as a city with affordable costs of living with modern public transport facilities and first-class healthcare system.
