Melaka Food Festival promises delights
The Melaka Food Festival 2019 which will be held at Jalan Kota Bandar Hilir this weekend (Saturday and Sunday) promises to titillate your taste buds.
State Tourism, Heritage and Culture Committee chairman Datuk Muhamad Jailani Khamis told a press conference here today that more than 50 stalls and food trucks involving five segments namely 'Taste of Melaka', 'Melaka Viral Food Festival, 'Melaka Handicraft Food Festival', 'Melaka Food Truck Festival' and 'Melaka Vendor Festival' will be catering to visitors.
He expects more than 30,000 domestic and foreign visitors to turn up for the festival.
The operating hours are from 9am to 5pm.
-- BERNAMA
Tourism Malaysia ties up with Expedia
PUTRAJAYA: Tourism Malaysia has inked a deal with American travel company Expedia Group which will see both sides collaborate to boost tourism promotion to Malaysia.
Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Datuk Mohamaddin Ketapi said the partnership with Expedia will help support Malaysia’s target of achieving 30 million tourist arrivals and RM100bil tourist spending by 2020.
“Malaysia has just launched its fifth instalment of the Visit Malaysia series, Visit Malaysia 2020, and this is a timely strategic partnership which will benefit all parties.
“Expedia Group, as many of you would know, has over 200 travel booking websites in more than 70 countries around the world and work with thousands of lodging and flight partners to cater to the differing needs of modern travellers today.
“This partnership will collectively promote travel to Malaysia hence helping us grow our tourism arrival and income, empower our hospitality industry to be equipped with the right tools and services to help them grow their business locally, and be seen as a beacon in the sustainable tourism space, ” said Mohamaddin in his speech at the signing ceremony of the new collaboration, held at his ministry yesterday.
Mohamaddin said one of the agreements between Tourism Malaysia and Expedia Group will be focused on several global campaigns to promote inbound travel from the United States, Australia and Japan to Malaysia.
The three countries are among the biggest points of sale for Expedia Group.
“This partnership will see a joint execution of destination marketing campaigns to spotlight Malaysia’s hidden and unique tourist attractions as well as promote the variety of accommodation to Expedia Group’s 750 million plus monthly visitors globally, ” said Mohamaddin.
The collaboration will also see Expedia Group and Tourism Malaysia exchanging traveller insights, to help better understand tourist behaviours and home tourism strategies in line with the implementation of Visit Malaysia.
Expedia Group senior vice-president of commercial strategy and services Greg Schulze said the company found Malaysia to be a “progressively thinking destination” and was committed to help expose the country to travellers around the world.
“Tourism is an important contributor to Malaysia’s economy, accounting for almost 14.9% of the GDP (Gross Domestic Product) and 3.4 million jobs.
“As a world travel platform, Expedia Group is proud to be an online travel tourism partner to Tourism Malaysia, connecting Malaysia’s tourism industry to millions of travellers in our worldwide network, ” he said.
Among the travel websites under Expedia Group include Expedia.com, Trivago and Hotels.com.
~The Star~
Air quality worsens slightly in the country
The air quality in Peninsular Malaysia has worsened slightly with Rompin in Pahang Air Pollutant Index (API) readings jumping from “unhealthy” to “very unhealthy” zone.
According to Department of Environment (DOE) data, the API recorded in Rompin was at 223 as at 4pm, yesterday.
On Saturday, Rompin’s API was “unhealthy” at 125.
Conditions in Kuala Lumpur remained at moderate levels during the weekend, with the API at between 65 and 67.
In Selangor, Johan Setia saw a slight increase in the API readings.
The reading recorded was at 95 compared to 92 on Saturday.
Other areas in Selangor such as in Banting (82), Petaling Jaya (81), and Shah Alam (83) maintained its “moderate” readings.
The API readings in Kedah and Perlis also worsened from “good” to “moderate”, while Sabah maintained its “good” API readings.
Other places nationwide such as in Negri Sembilan, Johor, Perak, Penang, Kelantan and Terengganu recorded “moderate” API levels.
Meanwhile, in Sarawak, Sri Aman posted an API reading of 252 and generally the haze situation here and in Miri is still bad.
The API reading worsened compared to Saturday which was at 247.
The air quality in SK Kuala Baram 2 station and the Miri Industrial Training Institute station both improved.
SK Kuala Baram 2 station recorded an API reading of 80 from 119, while the Miri Industrial Training Institute station recorded a reading of 161 from 222.
As of yesterday morning, the DOE recorded one “hot spot” (forest fire) in Sarawak
An API reading of between 0 and 50 is good, while 51 to 100 is moderate, 01 to 200 is unhealthy, 201 to 300 very unhealthy, and 301 and above is deemed hazardous.
The public can also refer to the Department of Environment (DoE) website at or by downloading the MyIPU smartphone app on ‘Google Play’ to get hourly API readings
According to the Asean Specialised Meterological Centre (ASMC) weather and haze outlook posted on Saturday at 6.25pm, it noted that hotspot activities in Sumatra and Kalimantan are likely to persist in the country.
ASMC’s satellite monitoring system has also indicated in recent times that open burning is also coming from that direction.
~News courtesy of The Star~
Safer for tourists to use e-wallet, say Melaka police
Visitors to the state have been advised by Melaka police to use electronic wallet or e-wallet in their transactions to avoid falling victim to theft, robbery or snatch theft.
State Security and Crime Prevention Department chief ACP Beh Eng Lai noted that many business premises in Melaka as well as nationwide had already adopted the cashless transaction approach.?
"Taking preventive steps is important and it is the responsibility of all parties to ensure that our environment is safe and criminal activities reduced," he told reporters after launching a tree-planting programme at the Contingent Police Headquarters here today.
During the event in conjunction with a Digital Era Entrepreneurs Carnival, the contingent received 1,000 saplings from the organiser.
To reinforce security during visitor peak days, Beh said tourist police would be patrolling Melaka's attractions such as Jonker Walk and Bandar Hilir.
“As we know, Melaka receives a higher volume of tourists during the school holidays and public holidays compared to normal days. Our priority is to provide a secure and conducive environment," he said.
Meanwhile, he said Melaka police receive an average of 10 reports a week through the ‘Volunteer Smartphone Patrol’ (VSP) application.
“We encourage the public to use VSP as all complaints and reports will be channelled directly to the control room and if the case is an emergency, both the motorcycle and MPV patrol units would be assigned immediately," he added.
-- BERNAMA
Hot and dry weather in M'sia until October, says the weatherman
KUALA LUMPUR (Bernama): Malaysia is expected to experience hot and dry weather with less rainfall until October, says Deputy Energy, Science, Technology, Environment and Climate Change Minister Isnaraissah Munirah Majilis.
She said apart from Malaysia, neighbouring countries Singapore and Sumatra in Indonesia are expected to experience the same weather pattern.
"We expect to experience a shortage of rainfall with warmer and drier weather this year without the El Nino and La Nina phenomena until October, " she said when asked about the essence of the 21st Technical Working Group (TWG) Meeting and the Ministerial Steering Committee Sub-Region on Cross-border Haze Pollution in Brunei.
She said this when contacted on the Bernama News Channel (BNC) talk showroom programme here Wednesday (Aug 7) night.
Commenting on the meeting, Isnaraissah said the five countries involved had presented measures taken to address fires and haze in their respective countries.
"Among the information shared was to carry out continuous monitoring of weather and hotspots, enforce the law and have the equipment prepared, mobilise human resources and co-ordinate fire-fighting, " she said.
The annual meeting involving four other Asean countries, Brunei, Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand, was held to monitor and detail the steps taken in addressing cross-border haze.
The initiative to address the Asean haze problem began following a serious episode of pollution in 1997 that led to the Asean Convention on cross-border haze signed by 10 countries in Kuala Lumpur on June 10, 2002. - Bernama
Melaka state government partners Parkland Diversified to build floating resort
The Melaka state government with the cooperation of Parkland Diversified Sdn Bhd will construct an RM350 million floating chalet resort facing the man-made Pulau Melaka.
Chief Minister Adly Zahari said the project will be implemented on 13.04 hectares (35.23 acres) concession areas besides 1.7 hectares (4.22 acres) above land areas.
The project, to be fully completed within four years after its start date next year will be another tourist attraction in the state, he said.
"The development of the chalet encompass the construction of 300 units of floating chalet besides other facilities such as infinity pool, restaurant and cafe, fishing platform, observation platform, marina and sky view,” he said after witnessing the signing ceremony of the project in Seri Negeri, Ayer Keroh here today.
The agreement was inked by state secretary Datuk Hasim Hasan and Parkland Diversified’s directors, Tan See Sen and Tee Kai Loon.
Adly said the construction of the floating chalet resort would provide many benefits to the local economy, especially in providing employment opportunities.
-- BERNAMA
Haze situation under control despite dry spell
The haze situation appears to be under control despite the dry spell as the Air Pollutant Index (API) has not reached unhealthy levels in any parts of Malaysia.
In fact, good air quality was recorded in Kota Tinggi, Johor (API reading 50), Tawau, Sabah (46) and Limbang, Sarawak (47) at 6pm yesterday.
Air quality in other parts of Malaysia was at a moderate level.
An API reading of between 0 and 50 is good while 51 to 100 is moderate, 101 to 200 is unhealthy, 201 to 300 very unhealthy, and 301 and above deemed hazardous.
National Weather and Geophysics Operations Centre director Mohd Hisham Mohd Anip said the air quality would return to normal soon as Indonesia had succeeded in its aggressive initiative to douse the raging forest fires.
He also noted that the two low-pressure cyclones in the West Pacific and the northern part of South China Sea would further suck the atmospheric moisture.
Several west coast states in the peninsula and Sarawak are also facing the haze following forest fires at six districts in Indonesia over the last four days.
The Asean Specialised Meteorological Centre (ASMC) warned that more hotspots could be expected in the first two weeks of August, particularly in the fire-prone provinces in Sumatra and Kalimantan in Indonesia, following warmer and drier than average conditions forecast over the southern Asean region.
In the northern Asean region, hotspot activities are expected to remain subdued due to prevailing rainy conditions, according to ASMC.
~News courtesy of The Star~
