eTurboNews By Y. Sulaiman Having lost its place as a premier tourism destination, Penang is reportedly turning to Hawaii for lessons on how to regain its lost glitter, in an effort to compete with its neighboring destinations like Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore and the Philippines.
“There is much we can learn from Hawaii,” said Chief Minister Dr. Koh Tsu Koon. “Hawaii implemented various strategies and recovered within 10 years.”
Citing similar backgrounds, he said Penang face similar challenges. As the first stop on US soil for all international flights originating from the Far East, tourist arrivals on the island plunged more than 50 percent when longer range flights on Boeing 747 planes bypassed Honolulu and flew direct to mainland USA.
“ Hawaii has earlier overlooked the need to preserve our cultural, environmental and historical aspects, which are our assets in tourism,” concurring with the assessment, Honolulu Mayor Jeremy Harris said in Penang. “We learned it was impossible to market a mediocre product.”
“We then started looking at the broader context of how to handle waste, energy, transportation and manage our natural resources, like our streams and forests, before planning tourism marketing strategies.
“Penang should not repeat the mistakes we made in Hawaii. We are offering to share and learn from us.”
Dr. Koh said Penang’s new structure plan will include useful aspects of Hawaii’s experience in urban planning development, including guidelines on zoning, provision of transportation, and waste management which can be adapted to suit Penang and build it into a model sustainable city.
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