Message by YB Danny Law, Penang State Minister for Tourism Development, Cultural, Art and Heritage on “Penang’s Glory”

Dear Visitors,

Selamat Datang to the Pearl of The Orient.........

It is indeed a great pleasure to convey this message to you regarding Penang’s achievement in the tourism industry. Being the EXCO for the Penang State Tourism Development & Culture, I am proud to say that this charming and exotic state of Penang has a lot to offer to its valuable visiting guest. Visitors will be able to experience and be surprise to see how a harmonious multi ethnic society is able to share a unique blend of different culture, religion and lifestyle together, as we have been doing since it was founded in 1786.

George Town, the capital of Penang, was accorded the prestigious UNESCO World Heritage List of Cities and Sites for its “outstanding universal value” to the global community on 7th July 2008. This award means that we are able to present and share with the world Penang’s unique historical architectural buildings, multi-ethnic culture heritage, its old “colonial townscape” and landscape to mesmerize. UNESCO acknowledges that Penang has beside an extraordinary sizeable old colonial architectural buildings and sites it is an incomparable example of a multi-ethnic living heritage and tradition. This will give a good opportunity to the “culture heritage” travellers to explore these fascinating historical and heritage sites and experience the diverse culture that exist here.

Penang has also received other awards and recognitions from world premier newspapers and travel magazines for its charming and enchanting town, unique blend of culture and the warm hospitality of its people.

- On 11th January 2009, the New York Times place Penang in their recommended listing of “The 44 Places To Go in 2009”. The paper named Penang “the culinary capital of Malaysia, where they are eating their way through one of South East Asia liveliest street food scenes”.

- On 11th March 2009, George Town was ranked 64 in “World Rank 2008/2009” by ECA International’s Location Rating Survey on expatriate living condition of 400 locations globally in their annual survey and the 10th choice in the “Top 20 Asian Location for Europeans”, published in their article “Asia and Australia Dominate Top Ten Best Location Ranking Asian Expatriate”. ECA International rates living standard according to categories including climate, air quality, health services, housing and utilities, isolation, social network and leisure facilities, infrastructure, personal safety and political tensions.

- The ISLANDS Magazine in 2007 listed Penang in the choice of “20 Best Islands To Live On”. Joe Yogerst wrote Penang has a“.....ultra-modern infrastructure, world class health care, cheap flights to other places in Asia, superb food and multicultural ambience”.

- Penang has been recently named third in the “Top Island in Asia” for 2008 by Travel + Leisure’s for its lively beaches, interesting architecture and amazing Asian-fusion cuisine. Their readers were asked to rate the selected islands according to five characteristics — namely natural attractions, activities/sights, restaurants/food, people and value.

Besides being a favourite holiday destination among foreign travellers, Penang has grown to be a popular destination to seek medical treatment. Penang’s medical tourism was highlighted by CNBC on their prime time slot on 13th August 2009.  CNBC's Adam Bakhtiar stated that we are among the top choice in this region for medical travellers. The reasons were the excellent medical facilities and services, competitive cost, practically no language barrier, its exceedingly friendly people and Penang’s long outstanding reputation as a popular tourist destination.

On another note, the Singapore Airlines in-flight magazine, SilverKris won an award at the Asean Tourism Forum 2009 (ATF) in Hanoi for featuring the story of “Penang Past and Present” by writer Gordon Hammond.

Recently, in a bid to build awareness of the Penang tourism and cultures, the VisitPenang 2010-2012 campaign was launched. Under this campaign, the state government has lined up a series of programmes, activities and events for our valuable visitors and the local to enjoy and participate. We hope that this campaign will bring more people to know about Penang not just as another tourist spot in the map but also a fascinating treasure to explore.

With all that said and done, I welcome all of you to our lovely island, Penang.