Is a 1986 rock hit for David +David. The cheap Ringgit, is bring tourist from as far as China and as near as Singapore to Malaysia.
As a result, hotels from Kuala Lumpur to Johor and Melaka to Penang are sold out.
Welcome to the boomtown, and can we thank PM Najib for this? The answer is a HELL NO.
The same way, we cannot blame him when the Ringgit was going down. This is called market FORCES.
Read the story BELOW:
The lower value of the ringgit Malaysia has brought more tourists to the country. Hotel rooms are heavily booked and helping to bring foreign currency into the local economy.
Hotels in Penang, especially those in the city, are seeing almost 80% to 90% occupancy rates.
The year-end school holiday season brought in a good number of outstation crowds to the city hotels.
Tourists from Singapore are flocking to the beach hotels along Tanjung Bungah and Batu Ferringhi.
Cititel Penang, The Wembley Penang and Cititel Express communications manager Karen Chee said both the Wembley and Cititel Penang, which jointly have 866 rooms, had an occupancy of 71% while Cititel Express’ rooms were fully booked yesterday.
“The occupancy rate of the three hotels is between 80% and 100% over the next few weeks,” she said yesterday.
Gurney Drive’s G Hotel is experiencing an 80% occupancy rate.
“The year-end business has been fairly good,” said its director of rooms Syahreezal Kamaruddin.
The holiday season also brought in Malaysians and tourists to popular spots such as the Botanical Gardens, Penang Hill and popular shopping spots such as Armenian Street and Little India.
Malaysian Association of Hotels (Penang Chapter) chairman Khoo Boo Lim said the weaker ringgit has brought in many Singaporeans to the city and beach hotels.
The same situation is also happening in Johor Baru.
Pulai Springs Resort marketing communications manager Charlotte Monterio said there were more Singaporean families choosing to stay at the hotel for the school holidays due to their superior currency.
“They usually come here for shopping and to visit the theme parks,” she said.
Thistle Johor Baru Hotel assistant director of sales M. Viki said the hotel was seeing a steady inflow of Chinese guests who were mostly investors after projects like Forest City began taking place in Iskandar Malaysia.
Malaysians from Kuala Lumpur chose to stay in Johor Baru to visit Legoland Malaysia or to go to Universal Studios in Singapore, she said.
Renaissance Hotel was fully booked for the holiday season since last week, said its marketing communications manager Hezrin Ali.
“Although there are more Singaporeans, domestic tourists still make up most of our guests,” he said.
More Singaporeans are also heading to Malacca with rooms fully booked, said Malaysian Association of Hotels (Malacca Chapter) chairman Abu Hassan Ismail.
“Johor folks are also contributing to the high occupancy rate. Even budget hotels are enjoying brisk sales. The trend will continue until the Lunar New Year,” he added.
Abu Hassan said the proximity of Singapore to Malacca, apart from the similar culture and gourmet destinations, also lured them to come here.
