IPOH: It is unfair to compare the vibrancy of Visit Perak Year 2024 (TMP 2024) with Visit Melaka Year (VMM 2024), which are both taking place concurrently.
Tourism Perak chief executive officer Nurmalis Musa said there are many voices claiming that TMP 2024 lacks promotion and vibrancy.
"People keep comparing us to Melaka. The issue is that Melaka has four districts and three local authorities, while Perak has 12 districts and 15 local authorities.
"We have a larger number of districts, and Perak is the second largest state in Peninsular Malaysia.
"When we organise programmes or activities, we try our best to include all districts. However, Melaka is very centralised, and most events are held only in Bandar Hilir," she said when met at her office in Jalan Teh Hawa.
On April 5, state Tourism, Industry, Investment, and Corridor Development Committee chairman Loh Sze Yee said that Perak aims to attract eight million domestic tourists to the state in conjunction with TMP 2024.
Loh is optimistic that this target can be achieved as part of the state's post-Covid-19 recovery process, through the interesting programmes offered at various tourist locations throughout the state.
Nurmalis added that between January and June this year, Perak received 3.6 million visitors.
With about five more months remaining, she is confident that the target of eight million tourists and visitors for TMP 2024 can be met through various attractive programmes and activities planned for the rest of the year.
"Based on data collected from Tourism Perak and local authorities for January to June this year, there has been a 72 per cent increase compared to the same period last year.
"The number of tourists recorded from January to June this year is 3,611,385, compared to 2,099,335 for the period from January to May last year.
"This data excludes hotel accommodations, and if those figures are included, I strongly believe we can achieve our target," she said.
She added that, based on statistics of tourist arrivals and departures through land and air gates issued by the Immigration Department, 513,536 domestic visitors were recorded in the first five months of this year, along with 192,558 international tourists for the same period.
"Most of the international tourists come from Thailand, Singapore, China, Australia, and Indonesia.
"Among the 12 districts in Perak, Manjung received the highest number of visitors with 1,367,248, followed by Kinta (843,265), Larut, Matang and Selama (582,037), Batang Padang (245,334), Kerian (151,926), Kampar (136,260), Hulu Perak (123,810), Kuala Kangsar (61,972), Hilir Perak (37,739), Perak Tengah (31,495), Bagan Datuk (18,878), and Muallim (11,421)," she said.