Bentong feasts eyes on tourists
50,000 visitors expected to attend durian festival
BENTONG: The district of Bentong is all abuzz to welcome more than 50,000 local and international tourists for a king of fruits feast.
Dubbed the Malaysia International Durian Cultural Tourism Festival, it will be held in this west Pahang district from Nov 25 to 26.
The festival is organised by MCA’s Belt and Road Centre and executed by Hunan Broadcasting System Company’s Mango Entertainment.
MCA president Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai said visitors could look forward to enjoying the “king of fruits” from Bentong’s farmers.
“I was told many eco-resorts around the district are reaching full occupancy in the run-up to this festival.
“This is a tipping point for promoting Bentong as an international tourist destination – especially for tourists from China – and it will have a multiplying effect on the Malaysian tourism sector,” he said during a press conference to pro- mote the festival here.
Liow, who is also the Bentong MP and Transport Minister, hoped the event would be made into an annual affair in the district.
On a separate matter, he said e-commerce acceptance in his constituency has been encouraging and youths were now coming home to take on new business opportunities via the internet.
“They don’t need to go far to seek opportunities and I’ve promised them better internet connectivity,” he said.
Liow also called upon merchants to embrace the digital economy as it was gaining prominence.
He said the digital economy means a lot to Malaysia as it could help the economy to achieve a double digit growth.
“E-commerce contributed to about 18% to the country’s Gross Domestic Product last year.
“We expect this to continue following the establishment of the Digital Free Trade Zone (DFTZ).
“The DFTZ is another milestone in Malaysia’s journey towards being an active player in the e-commerce sector,” he said.
Liow said by 2025, Malaysia would be handling about US$65bil worth of e-commerce cargo.
He said as such, there was certainly big potential in the digital economy.
“But embracing e-commerce will require training and education.
“We are prepared to help and guide merchants through the journey with courses offered by Utar (Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman),” he said.