Thursday, November 15, 2007 RP, Malaysia ink partnership to boost tourism By Joy Romares-Sevilla
THE chair of the BIMP-Eaga Tourism Council in the Philippines reported they have inked partnership with Sabah Tourism Association in Malaysia to boost promotion of tourism destinations in the two countries.
Mary Ann Montemayor, BIMP-Eaga Tourism Council chair, said the signing of the partnership, was among the highlights of the 3rd BIMP-Eaga Travel Exchange held recently in Kuching, Malaysia where 120 delegates from the Philippines were in attendance.
"We were able to ink a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Sabah Tourism Association. We entered the MOU to make sure that the two countries will continue to promote tourism destinations," Montemayor said.
She said the BIMP-Eaga Tourism Council welcomes the announcement of one of the local carriers, which she failed to identify, that would start to service flights from Davao City to some states in Malaysia by first quarter next year.
"By then, we can connect to Kuching. The good thing about Malaysia's states is that Sarawak has three million foreign arrivals annually, while Sabah has 2.8 million foreign arrivals," Montemayor said.
"They have a huge number of foreign arrivals, while here in the Philippines, DOT only targets three million foreign arrivals in 2007," she added.
Montemayor further said the MOU could help in the arrangements of good prospects between Malaysia and the Philippines in terms of tourism development.
