Tag: china

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KUALA LUMPUR: RHB Research projects a multi-fold rise in net profit for Yong Tai as the former garment company focuses on property development.

“This would be underpinned by the Impression City project, which would see a potential total gross development value (GDV) rise to RM6.1bil from RM164mil currently,” it said.

The research house said this  ought to keep the group busy for the next eight to 10 years. Impression Melaka, it added, offers a further upside to both earnings and valuations.

“We estimate a valuation range of RM1.03 to RM1.18,” it said as it initiated coverage.

RHB Research said in line with the group’s overall expansion plan into the property sector, Yong Tai has announced several proposals.

They are the RM37mil acquisition of a 17 acre plot in Melaka (Impression Land) for the development of a theatre to produce the Impression Melaka as well as the acquisition of PTS Impression (to hold a 30-year license to stage the show) for RM3mil. It also has a joint venture to develop 100 acres of land adjacent to the Impression Land.

The company is also undertaking a fund-raising exercise to raise more than RM300mil.

“The proposals are expected to be completed/take effect by 1HFY17 (June),” it said.

RHB Research said Impression Melaka, which is the first of its kind outside China, is a live cinematography show that utilises the latest light and sound technologies, modern art concepts and cultural performers.

This is to be the first live largescale Impression Series outside of China and is one of the “entry point project” within the National Key Economic Area (NKEA) initiative for the tourism sector. The performing arts centre is estimated to cost RM300mil, with completion targeted for end-2017.

“Management expects Impression Melaka to contribute RM50mil to RM60milper annum in bottomline thereafter,” it said.

The research house said Impression City is expected to contribute RM5.4bil to total GDV. Concurrent with the construction of the theatre for Impression Melaka, Yong Tai is to develop the land adjacent to it (the development collectively known as Impression City).

The mixed development project includes residential, commercial and retail units. The total GDV over an eight to 10 years period is estimated to be RM5.4bil.

“Management believes the Impression Melaka project would spur the growth of tourism and related industries such as real estate, hotels and eateries, that is catalysts for Impression City.

“We project for Yong Tai to turn around and post a net profit of RM14mil in FY17, accelerating to RM64mil in FY18. This is underpinned by the progress of its property projects. Our forecasts do not factor in the contribution from Impression Melaka, which we have pushed to FY19.

“We derive an indicative valuation estimate range of RM1.03 to  RM1.18 (fully diluted) based on SOP. The low end of our valuation range excludes Impression Melaka while, for its property development business, we have ascribed a 40% discount to its RNAV.

“The top end of our valuation range incorporates the show, where we estimate the business to be worth RM107mil based on DCF. We see upside to our valuation for Impression Melaka as execution risks ease. Our indicative valuation estimate range implies an FY18F P/E of seven to eight times (10.6 to 12 times, fully diluted),” it said.

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Sabah and Sarawak Tourism News 2016

Here is a round up of Sabah and Sarawak tourism news for March 2016 for those wanting to know more about what is happening in these two Malaysian states in Borneo.

Poor air links, slowdown hit tourism in Sarawak

Foreign arrivals to Sarawak fell short of expectations last year, recording a 7% drop from 2014, no thanks to poor air connectivity.  State Tourism Minister Datuk Amar Abang Johari Tun Openg had hoped for 5 million arrivals in 2015. However, only 4.51 million visitations were recorded. In 2014, there were 4.85 million foreign arrivals. “Our target for this year remains 5 million,” Johari told reporters after the yearly State Tourism Steering Committee meeting here yesterday. The prolonged haze, repercussions from the twin Malaysia Airlines disasters, and global economic slowdown were also blamed for the drop.

A much touted attempt by the Sarawak and Sabah governments to become majority shareholders in MASwings also failed to materialise. Johari said poor air links had continued to “handicap” Sarawak’s tourism growth. Looking ahead, the state would concentrate on attracting tourists via China and Singapore hubs.

On April 26, Hong Kong Airlines would fly its first flight between Kuching and Hong Kong. “As a result of that route, there is a possibility of other airlines coming. In fact, Sarawak Tourism Board is negotiating with other Chinese airlines to fly direct from China to Kuching. I can’t reveal more yet. The other important hub will be Singapore,” Johari said. “Promotional works in Hong Kong and Singapore would be ‘aggressive’”, he added.

Read More: http://www.thestar.com.my/metro/community/2016/03/24/poor-air-links-slowdown-hit-tourism-haze-and-disasters-also-blamed-for-7-drop-in-arrivals-last-year/

Sarawak Eyes 5 Million Tourist Arrivals This Year, Via Singapore, Hong Kong

KUCHING, March 23 (Bernama) — With a view to luring five million tourists to Sarawak this year, the state government will liaise with Singapore and Hong Kong to record the statistics from the two iconic Asian tourist hubs.

State tourism minister Datuk Amar Abang Johari Tun Openg noted that last year, 60 per cent of the 25.7 million tourists to Malaysia came through Singapore, while Hong Kong was the gateway for tourists from mainland China. He said the state government had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Singapore Cooperation Enterprise to tap the island’s expertise in developing new tourism destinations and products.  He was speaking to the media after chairing the Sarawak Tourism Steering Committee annual meeting here Wednesday.

Read More: http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v8/ge/newsgeneral.php?id=1227815

Sabah No 2 choice of Beijing tourists

Kota Kinabalu: Despite several hiccups, China tourists are still flocking to Sabah, making it their second most preferred destination in Malaysia after Kuala Lumpur, according to Ctrip.com, China’s leading online travelling agency. Its Malaysia Business Unit Director Stephane Thong said 37 per cent of its customers opted to come to Sabah since the company was established in Malaysia in 2014.

“Sabah offers a complete tourism experience which makes it more popular among China tourists compared to other Malaysian cities such as Kuala Lumpur or Penang. Other than the local cuisine, these tourists are attracted to the beautiful islands and beaches here because China has very few of it,” she said.

Thong also said Malaysia’s efforts to promote Sabah as a tourist destination contributed to the success. “The government has taken many initiatives to promote Sabah to China tourists such as increasing the number of direct flights to Sabah,” she said, adding that the depreciation of the Ringgit has resulted in a cheaper travelling package.

Read More: http://www.dailyexpress.com.my/local.cfm

Sarawak To Have Direct Hong Kong-Sibu Flights

SIBU, March 13 (Bernama) — The Sarawak Tourism Ministry will establish direct flights from Hong Kong to Sibu to increase tourist arrivals to the state’s central region soon.  Chief Minister Tan Sri Adenan Satem said this after the state government signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Hong Kong Airlines earlier this year. He said the twice-a-week, Hong Kong-Kuching-Hong Kong direct flights were expected to begin next month.

“This is in line with Sarawak’s open sky policy inviting interested airlines to have direct flights to the state,” he said in a speech read by state housing and tourism minister Datuk Amar Abang Johari Tun Openg at the launch of Visit Sibu Year 2017 at Dataran Sibu here last night.

Adenan said Sibu was the main entrance to the central region of Sarawak, boasting of various tourist attractions comprising Kapit, Sarikei and Mukah which had tourism potential not fully explored and developed. “Sarawak’s central region is rich in culture, nature, adventure, heritage and history,” he added.

The chief minister also announced an allocation of RM200,000 from the state government to the committee in charge of ‘Visit Sibu Year 2017’. The tourism sector is a major contributor to the state economy, with a turnover of about RM9 billion with 4.5 million tourist arrivals last year. The amount is equivalent to 13 per cent of Sarawak’s total gross domestic product (GDP) last year, said Adenan, adding that the tourism sector would also provide employment opportunities to the people of Sarawak.

Read More: http://www.bernama.com/bernama/state_news/news.php?id=1224661cat=sre

Sarawak eying Asean, East Asia tourism markets

KUCHING: The state Tourism Ministry is working to position Sarawak in the Asean and East Asia markets as its priority areas for 2016, said Tourism Minister Datuk Amar Abang Johari Tun Openg. “While we still promote the state to the European market, we would also want to concentrate more on our neighbours particularly Asean and East Asia.

“We are penetrating into important hubs such as Singapore and Hong Kong. As you know, we will have direct flight to and from Hong Kong starting next month. Hong Kong is the gateway to southern China, so these are cities where we want to concentrate in improving connectivity. We also hope to tap into the Mongolian market.  “We also expect other airlines to join the bandwagon. In fact we are negotiating with a few,” he said at the official opening ceremony of the 8th MATTA Fair 2016 at Boulevard Shopping Mall yesterday.

According to Abang Johari, a Sarawak Week would be held in Singapore in May. “As part of the campaign, five Singapore buses will be wrapped with Sarawak logo and themes and they will go around Singapore for a month. It will be an aggressive campaign which we are working with Singapore Tourism Board and Silk Air,” he said.

Read More: http://www.theborneopost.com/2016/03/12/sarawak-eying-asean-east-asia-tourism-markets/

China tourists flock to Sabah again

KOTA KINABALU – The lure of the sea and convenient direct flights are among the factors pulling Chinese tourists to Sabah despite security concerns, according to Sabah Tourism Federation president Datuk Seri Winston Liaw. These travellers, he said, had been assured by the presence of security personnel in the east coast area.

“The issue of personal safety is not stopping them from coming as many of them say that crimes occur everywhere,” he said, crediting the continuous arrival of Chinese tourists to efforts by the Sabah Tourism Board (STB).

The feedback from Chinese tourists indicated that Sabah’s natural resources were a major attraction, he added. “They tell us that they love our beautiful beaches, islands, nature and cheap seafood,” he said, adding that it also helped that many Sabahans could speak various Chinese dialects. Seafood, especially in the east coast, is not only fresh but cheaper compared to peninsular Malaysia or even China, he added.

Read More: http://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2016/03/16/china-tourists-flock-to-sabah-again-travellers-feel-its-safe-to-visit-east-coast-thanks-to-beefed-up/

Sabah exploring new areas as tourist attractions

KOTA BELUD: The Sabah Tourism, Culture and Environment Ministry is exploring new areas with the potential to be developed into exciting tourist destinations. Its permanent secretary, Datuk Ginun Yangus said this was part of efforts to draw the international community to the state.

“The places rich in natural beauty and with the potential for eco-tourism development include Kadamaian in Kota Belud, Keningau, Kuala Penyu, Beaufort and Sungai Kinabatangan in Sandakan, ” he said at the launch of the Kadamaian Nature Challenge 2016 by Communications and Multimedia Minister Datuk Seri Salleh Said Keruak here today.

Read More: http://www.thesundaily.my/news/1733160

Call For More Backpackers Clubs In Sabah To Promote Tourism

TUARAN, March 19 (Bernama) — Backpackers Clubs could assist in promoting Sabah as the best tourism destination in Malaysia. This is according to Sabah Tourism Board chairman Datuk Joniston Bangkuai who said more of such clubs should be formed in the state. He said club members could empower the local tourism sector through various means including social media.

The associations could organise sojourns to tourism spots where members may also share their experiences for instance, on Facebook, he told reporters after launching ‘2D1N Earth Hour and Kiulu Adventure Voluntourism’, Saturday. The programme held in Kiulu near here and organised with the cooperation of Sabah Backpacker Operators Association (SBA) and Almacrest College was participated by about 30 students from the Almacrest Student Backpackers Club.

Read More: http://www.bernama.com/bernama/state_news/news.php?id=1226669cat=sbe

Tigerair Taiwan touches down in Kota Kinabalu

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah is confident of surpassing its aim of 60,000 tourist arrivals from Taiwan by year end.  State Assistant Tourism, Culture and Environment minister Datuk Pang Yuk Ming said it was not impossible to achieve the target with the addition of new direct flight between two destinations. “Last year, the state recorded 41,000 arrivals which was 31 per cent increase than the previous year.”

“With the addition of the new budget Tigerair Taiwan airline, it is not impossible for us to achieve the target by year end,” he said in a reception welcoming the budget airline’s inaugural flight from Taipei to the Kota Kinabalu International airport, here, this morning.

The airline’s chief executive officer Kwan Yue said the carrier chose Sabah as the state was a resort destination with modern facility and possessed a strong cultural element as well as providing good hospitality. “We are able to generate high interests among people to come to Sabah within short time of marketing the destination. “The airline foresees great potential (in this partnership) and looking forward to increase frequency and offer affordable price tickets to the people,” he said.

Read More: http://www.nst.com.my/news/2016/03/133496/tigerair-taiwan-touches-down-kota-kinabalu

The above is a compilation of Sabah and Sarawak Tourism News for March 2016 taken from various mainstream new sources in Malaysia. If you have any comments, please leave them below.

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Your decision to visit Melaka can never turn out be the wrong one as there are several tourist attractions in Melaka. The city has a rich history with several historical building, architecture, heritage sites, and museums. Cheng Ho Cultural Museum is one of the prestigious places to visit in Melaka. All the artifacts in the museum are ancient and take you hundreds of years back.

Cheng Ho Cultural Museum

The Museum occupies various shop houses nearby the river in the city. History devotees and enthusiasts visit this fascinating place, fathoming the amazing career of a Chinese admiral Cheng Ho. Cheng Ho (Zheng He) was the Ming dynasty admiral who has a prominent place in Melaka history. It is said that the admiral visited this city-state for at least five of his seven visits to the Western Ocean from China from 1405 to 1433. He setup his own depot, warehouse in this area. The museum is assumed to be built on the original Guan Chang site built by Cheng Ho around 600 years ago. It is also said that the warehouse built by Cheng Ho was also located in the same area.

The museum stretches over three floors which can roughly be divided into various sections such as ship gallery, old Melaka village, treasure ship, antique gallery and garden courtyard. Various old shop houses that date back to the time of Cheng Ho are restored and linked together to establish this archetype museum. It covers a huge place that depicts Cheng Ho’s life and voyages.

The museum has mock-ups of his treasure ships, a life-sized statue of a giraffe that was supposedly bought by him from china. The teas hops and treasure ship living cabins will carry you the past while offering a glimpse of Cheng Ho’s routine. All these ancient objects display his birth into a Muslim family, his career as a eunuch in the palace and counselor to the Ming emperor. The social influence of his voyages in more than 200 treasure ships with more than 28,000 men can be sensed till today. The gallery also exhibits his death during his journey to the Persian Gulf.

Visiting Cheng Ho museum is indeed one of the amusing things to do in Melaka. The museum is strategically located at Jalan Hang Jebat and is also close to the Tan Kim Seng Bridge, making it easily accessible from wherever you are staying in Melaka. It is open daily from 9:30 am to 6:00 pm and the admission charges are RM 10.00 (2.33 USD).

The Cheng Ho Cultural Museum is a must-visit museum in Melaka, especially if you’re interested in a history. If you have visited the museum and would like to share your thoughts, please add comments below.

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China PM to make historical visit to Malacca

Warm welcome: Li (right) being escorted by Transport Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai upon his arrival in Kuala Lumpur for the 27th Asean summit. — Bernama
 
KUALA LUMPUR: Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, who is in town for the Asean Summit, is making a detour to historical city Malacca.

The visit tomorrow is set to be a momentous one, cementing ties between the city-port and China, which began when Admiral Zheng He (Cheng Ho) sailed to Malacca more than 600 years ago.

Li’s trip will begin with a briefing by Chief Minister Datuk Seri idris Haron on development projects in the city.

Together with his wife Cheng Hong, the premier will get to experience Malacca’s unique Chinese-Malay heritage at the Baba Nyonya heritage museum.

He will visit the Cheng Ho Cultural Museum, built on top of the site where the admiral’s warehouse once stood, and also the Sky Tower observatory deck on the 43rd floor of The Shore shopping complex.

Sky Tower CEO Chew Chert Fong was delighted when told that he would escort the Chinese Prime Minister to the pinnacle of The Shore’s building, currently the tallest structure in the state.

On Monday, Li will attend the Malaysia-China High Level Economic Forum and meet Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak in Putrajaya.

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ACPR 2015 – KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA

The 3rd IAPR Asian Conference on Pattern Recognition (ACPR2015), sponsored by the International Association of Pattern Recognition (IAPR) and supported by the Malaysian Image Analysis and Machine Intelligence Association (MIAMI) and IEEE Computational Intelligence Society (CIS) Malaysia Chapter will be held on November 3-6, 2015, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The First Asian Conference on Pattern Recognition (ACPR2011) was held at Beijing, China; while the second series (ACPR2013) was held at Okinawa, Japan.

ACPR2015 is a high quality, biennial single-track conference, comprising oral presentations and poster sessions (with oral acceptance 10% in the last 2 series; previous years’ ACPR statistics are available here). ACPR aims at providing one major international forum for researchers in pattern recognition and related fields to share their new ideas and achievements. Submissions from other than the Asia-Pacific regions are also highly encouraged.

ACPR2015 solicits high-quality original research for publication in its main conference and co-located workshops. All accepted papers will be included in IEEE Xplore and Indexed by EI. Topics of interest include all aspects of pattern recognition including, but not limited to:

A) Computer Vision and Robot Vision;
B) Pattern Recognition and Machine Learning;
C) Signal Processing (signal, speech, image);
D) Media Processing and Interaction (video, document, medical, biometrics, HCI, VR)