Malaysia's Consul General in Kunming, Roseli Abdul (left) explains to Guilin Foreign Affairs Deputy Director Ning Song (middle) how the roti canai is made in during the launching of the three-day 'Colours of Malaysia' promotion in Guilin. Also present is Suhaimi Shaharuddin, Tourism Malaysia Director in Guangzhou (right). Pic: Tham Choy LinGUILIN -- The people of this city, well- known for its scenic attractions, had a glimpse of another paradise when Tourism Malaysia rolled into town for the first time with a food and cultural festival on a two-leg promotion with low-cost carrier AirAsia in the southern Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region.
Curious locals quickly warmed up to the "teh tarik" and used chopsticks to chomp down dozens of "roti canai" and plates of piping hot "mee goreng" even before the show officially began.
Malaysia's consul general in Kunming, Roseli Abdul, jointly launched the three-day "Colours of Malaysia" promotion at the main town square on Friday evening with Guilin foreign affairs deputy director Ning Song and tourism deputy director Chen Yun Chun.
"We hope that with more promotions like this, tourists from Guilin will visit Malaysia. In addition, as a food and a shopping haven, Malaysia is an exciting and safe holiday destination and one Chinese yuan is now 53 Malaysian sen compared to 44 sen a year ago," Roseli said.
Also present at the launch was Suhaimi Shaharuddin, Tourism Malaysia's director in Guangzhou, who covers the southern China region and biggest market for Malaysia here.
"Guangxi is a new market for us after AirAsia began flying to Guilin last September. We had a similar promotion in the capital, Nanning, last week before coming here and the response in both places has been very good," Suhaimi said.
The potential market is underlined by AirAsia increasing its four weekly flights to a daily frequency to Guilin from next month. The budget carrier currently charges 359 yuan one-way for the four-hour journey to Kuala Lumpur.
Suhaimi said Guangxi tourists were new to Malaysia and their popular destinations were Kuala Lumpur, Melaka, Genting Highlands and Pangkor island.
"Most of them are families and we will also work on getting them to Sabah and Sarawak. They can travel to Shenzhen first and take AirAsia from there to the two states," he added. Tourism Malaysia is currently working with two travel agents in Guilin.
Coincidentally, the Sheraton Guilin Hotel is hosting "A Taste of Malaysia" dinner buffet with chefs flown in from Malaysia.
China is Malaysia's biggest market outside Southeast Asia. Last year, the tourist numbers rose to 949,000 while arrivals in the first two months of this year totalled 174,500.
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