Only day trips allowed to Pulau Bidong

SETIU: Terengganu will ban large tourism projects on Pulau Bidong and its surrounding islands and only allow day trippers, in a bid to to protect the corals and preserve it as a marine heritage island.

State Tourism, Culture, Arts and Heritage Committee chairman Datuk Abdul Rahin Mohd Said said the Pulau Bidong group of islands, comprising a main island and five smaller ones, must be protected as they were the last uninhabited islands in Terengganu.

He said the state government did not want the islands to be turned into other resort islands such as Perhentian and Redang to minimise environmental damage to marine life.

"We want to promote the islands of Pulau Bidong in a such a way that will still protect its environment hence the idea of opening it only to day trippers. Visitors can still come and enjoy the beauty of the corals and marine life but they must leave by end of the day.

"We will need to build the amenities for day-trippers, but it will be on a much smaller scale compared with large-scale construction for resorts," he said after taking part in an underwater signing ceremony of a pledge to safeguard the islands' marine heritage yesterday.

Sixty divers took part and it was certified by the Malaysia Book of Records as the first in Malaysia.

The event was organised by the Malaysia Coral Reef Conservation Society (Coral Malaysia) with the cooperation of Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT) and the Terengganu government.

UMT vice chancellor Prof Datuk Aziz Deraman, who welcomed the move to protect the islands, said the university would make Pulau Bidong its research island.

"Currently, we have a research facility with four laboratories on the island and we will conduct more research on the Pulau Bidong archipelago."

He said research to harness the power of tidal currents, solar and wind would also be conducted on the island, beside marine biology studies.

"We will build a windmill at our research centre on the island to supply electricity and at the same time be a subject of green energy research

"UMT has conducted research into ways to restore dying corals but what is more important is to preserve what we still have."

Coral Malaysia president Jamhariah Jaafar said artificial reefs, known as the Underwater Gallery, around Pulau Bidong had become healthy grounds for coral growth.

"The waters around Pulau Bidong have many fascinating diving sites which can be promoted to create public awareness about our marine heritage."

Book early, rooms in Penang are going fast

Prospects for the year are looking rosy with 2011 expected to close at a 67 per cent occupancy and a record high hotel room rate of RM240.

Penang: Hotels in Penang are projecting a record year in 2011 as more rooms are filled and more money is made each night. And the outlook for 2012 is expected to be even better.

In the first seven months of this year, occupancy hit 65.7 per cent with an average room rate (ARR) of RM231. This compares to the first seven months of 2010 when average occupancy was at 59.3 per cent and an ARR at RM229.

"July 2011 posted the highest ever single month occupancy in the past five years, at 82 per cent," president for the Malaysian Association of Hotel (MAH) Penang Chapter Marco G. Battistotti said.

Accordingly, prospects for the year are looking rosy with 2011 expected to close at a 67 per cent occupancy and a record high room rate of RM240. This is despite additional room inventory this year.

As at end of last year, MAH member hotels had a total of 7,706 rooms, while up to July 2011, the rooms available touched 7,803.

These, Battistotti said, are the best numbers since the association started tabulating the statistics.

While occupancy is in fact similar to that achieved in 2006, ARR at that time was only at RM178.

MAH members in Penang represent 80 per cent of the available hotels in the state.

"This positive trend could continue in 2012," Battistotti told Business Times.

Battistotti, who said hotels on the mainland tend to have better rates as there are fewer players, divides Penang island into two sectors.

Hotels located within Gurney Drive to Bayan Lepas are considered city hotels and those located within the Tanjung Bunga and Burau Bay as beach hotels.

City hotels tend to generally have 65 per cent corporate crowd and 35 per cent leisure, while beach hotels tend to have the opposite composition.

The city hotel enjoying the highest ARR is E&O Hotel at around RM540, while the highest rate garnered by a beach hotel is Shangri-La Rasa Sayang Resort & Spa.

The better performance, especially by city hotels, is attributed to support from multinational corporations and manufacturing facilities located within the Free Industrial Zone. Some 70 companies here provided 100,000 room nights last year.

The Arab market has also improved this year. They provided 89,000 room nights in the first seven months compared with 81,000 last year.

Apart from a strong corporate market and a leisure market, Penang also gets a good number of arrivals for medical tourism.

George Town's status as a Unesco World Heritage City has spurred arrivals as it has helped increase Penang's popularity.

"For the European market, heritage is a strong selling point," Battistotti said.

Indonesians and Singaporeans remain Penang's largest foreign arrivals.

A good mix of leisure, backpackers, corporate and meeting, incentive, convention and exhibition is expected to augur well for the island over the next three to four years, Battistotti said.