'Tourism plans will include 5 Pakatan states' - NST

KUALA LUMPUR: The five Pa-katan Rakyat-led states will not be sidelined from their share of tourism development, said Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Azalina Othman.

She said events planned for these states would continue.

Azalina said Penang and Langkawi were the priorities for her ministry.

"We have investors of five- and six-star hotels in Lang-kawi, and Penang is one of the main tourist states," she said after meeting state Tourism Action Council heads at her office here yesterday.

Between January and December 2006, hotel guests in all five states were between 770,000 and 4.6 million.

Penang and Kedah topped the list among the five states with 4.6 million and four million hotel guests respectively, and the Malaysian Hotel Association had stated that the number of hotel guests grew by 30 per cent every year.

In addition, the states also enjoyed good revenue from tourism programmes and events.

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