Visit Penang Year 2010-2012

Press Statement by YB Danny Law Heng Kiang,

Exco of the Penang State Tourism Development & Culture.

Visit Penang Year 2010-2012 is a three year campaign for all tourism industrial players, the hotels and travel agents to enable them to come up with travel packages in advance for tourists all over the world to come to Penang. A year is too short a time to promote Penang to all the other countries, therefore three years is an ideal period to create more attractive packages and to effectively allow better response in tourists visits to Penang.

Yesterday's soft launch of Visit Penang Year 2010-2012 marks the beginning of a month-long celebration held in conjunction with George Town's UNESCO CELEBRATION MONTH in July 2009 which celebrates the first anniversary of George town being ignited as the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site. An ongoing series of events and activities from 1st to 26th July 2009 on all cultural and heritage to Penang will be held in celebration of this glorious month. Be entertained by what Penang has to offer you for the whole month from local cultural performances to handicraft exhibitions, Chingay & dragon boat competitions, the St. Anne's Feast, and the much awaited annual Bon Odori Festival which will give you an insight to the reasons behind the popularity of George Town, Penang.

July would not be the only month where Penang would be buzzing with activities and programs for local and international tourists. In fact, plans are already in motion for a weekly cultural show to be held at the Esplanade every Saturday night starting from August until the end of the year. By doing this, it allows both tourists as well as locals to have some form of night cultural entertainment suitable for family and friends during the weekends. This activity would best attract those who would enjoy the diverse culture of Penang. With the support of the community and if the response prove to be very positive, we hope to make it a daily affair! With that, hopefully in a year's time this cultural show will become an international cultural show for all to experience.

Among the proud titles of Penang includes being honored one of the top Asian Islands in Travel and Leisure's 2008 World's Best Awards and selected as the No.2 choice by readers recommendation in the New York Times, “Best Places to Go in 2009”.

To all Penangites - be proud and grateful of your heritage as it is one of uniqueness and distinctiveness. Here in Penang, we are of colourful multi-racial culture, we own beautiful historical heritage and we serve lip-smacking delicious food which is well known all around the world. What we have is admired by others therefore together we must cherish and value what we have and we must celebrate and rejoice in the uniqueness of our multicultural heritage.

Thank you and let us celebrate all that Penang has to offer!The Soft Launch of the Visit Penang Year 2010-2012 on 1st July 2009 was held at the Esplanade with the performing arts featuring traditional dance performances by the Penang Cultural Council, Temple of Fine Arts and Spring Production & Art Studios who will be showcasing the unique culture and traditions of Penang right here at the Esplanade.A total of 60 dancers from Penang's 3 elite dance troupes performed 90-minutes of non-stop fast-paced cultural shows including - a Bollywood dance! A perfect presentation of Penang's melting-pot culture of Malay, Chinese and Indian performances which concluded with a mass Joget session - a traditional malay dance - for all at the open concert at the Esplanade.