ERL Sees 5-10 Pct Growth Next Year

October 13, 2008 21:27 PM

By Siti Radziah Hamzah

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 13 (Bernama) - Express Rail Link Sdn Bhd (ERL) is looking at five to 10 percent growth in its overall business next year.

Its chief executive officer, Dr. Aminuddin Adnan, said the target could be achieved with new strategies that have been outlined by the company and expected to be carried out by end of this year or early next year.

ERL is looking to expand its KLIA Transit business for the Low Cost Carrier Terminal (LCCT) and to market its services in Europe.

Aminuddin noted that its KLIA Transit service was growing and already recording higher number of passengers than its KLIA Express service.

KLIA Transit captures between 6,500 and 7,000 passengers a day while KLIA Express serves 4,500 passengers a day.

The company is planning to focus on KLIA Transits KL Sentral station to Salak Tinggi station and three connecting buses from Salak Tinggi to the LCCT.

"The competitors are charging RM8-RM9 from KL Sentral to LCCT. (However) we are looking (at a figure) higher than that because the fare from KL Sentral to Salak Tinggi is already RM12.50," Aminuddin explained.

He added that the transit bus fare would be waived for passengers who commute with KLIA Transit from KL Sentral, while passengers from Bandar Tasik Selatan and Putrajaya will be charged for the bus transit.

ERL operates two high-speed rail services, namely KLIA Express and KLIA Transit, which are connected from KL Sentral to the KL International Airport (KLIA).

"At the moment, KLIA Express has not been growing because even the traffic at the main terminal building has dropped to some extent," he told Bernama in an interview on the sidelines of the 14th World Route Development Forum here Sunday.

He said there was a 20 percent decline for the usage of KLIA Express since the opening of the LCCT in March 2006.

"We are affected because we have seen a lot of people switching from normal airlines to low cost carrier," he said, adding that the company is hoping to capture part of the Air Asias market.

He added ERL is looking at the Air Asias market, as they would probably constitute about 35 percent of the traffic at KLIA.

Aminuddin said that ERL is looking to selling its tickets worldwide and have started with Amadeus to market its service throughout the 300,000 Amadeus sales outlets in Europe.

Spain-based Amadeus is the leading Global Distribution System (GDS) and the biggest processor of travel bookings in the world.

"They are very strong in Europe. At the moment, we are almost finalising the legal arrangements with them and our technical people are already solving some technical issues," he said.

"We are looking at two to five percent (contribution from this partnership). This is a new market. So far, we notice more and more foreigners are taking our train. They are quite used to doing this in Europe," he added.

Source: BERNAMA

Malaysia's Attractions To Be In Spotlight At Routes 2008

October 12, 2008 20:34 PM

By Umi Hani Sharani

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 12 (Bernama) -- The 14th Routes Forum hosted by Malaysia starting Sunday will be a perfect platform to expose the country's major tourism attractions to the hive of airlines expected to converge here for the annual event.

Themed "The World Is Coming To KUL", Routes 2008 will see the "who's who" of the airline industry getting their first taste of the local scene, a move that can eventually persuade them to extend their routes to this part of the region.

Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd's general manager for marketing, Sallaudin Mohamed Shah, said the firm has arranged various activities that not only promote the cultural aspect of the country but also current activities such as the chance to drive at the Sepang International Circuit.

"These are the decision makers of the airlines and they are here for the first time. So we have taken a great leap (to organise side activities) because Malaysia is renowned as a tourism destination, and we saw the opportunity.

The world (is coming) to us," he told Bernama in an interview.

He said although previous hosts had provided city tours during the events, Malaysia this time has taken the liberty to arrange various social programmes for all delegates to sample various attractions.

Besides city tours to the administrative capital of Putrajaya or the holy site of Batu Caves, those interested can also find their way to the historic city of Malacca.

Malaysia Airports, in working with Tourism Malaysia, has also not forgotten to provide avid golfers with a friendly tournament on the various beautiful greens of the country.

"We are also working with the City Hall to provide delegates free 'hop-on, hop-off' bus passes for them to get to know Kuala Lumpur better," said Sallaudin.

He said the firm was also working with Sepang International Circuit and Sepang International Driving Academy to give free lessons on how to ride on the world-famous Sepang International Circuit which has been hosting the Formula 1 Grand Prix.

"Of course, not forgetting the famous Petronas Twin Towers where we have also given free access for certain time for a certain number of delegates to view the city from the Sky Bridge at level 41," he added.

Sallaudin said these are some of the things aimed at generating greater interest among the delegates to show that Malaysia is an attractive country to visit, rather than them coming here just for meetings.

"There are great tourism opportunities that one can savour. That is one unique thing that no other host has done before," he said. He credited the enthusiasm to make the event a success to the various stakeholders and partners, including Tourism Malaysia, City Hall, Petronas, KLAS (Kuala Lumpur Airport Services) and Malaysia Airlines, as well as various sponsors.

Source: BERNAMA

Women VIPs among 200 at floral arrangement event

Tuesday February 6, 2007

By ESTHER CHANDRAN
Photo by DARRAN TAN

FLOWERS and the fairer sex - there always seems to be a magnetic charm between them, as was seen at the recent flower arrangement workshop at Taman Warisan Pertanian, Putrajaya.

The VIPs attending the Landscape and Horticulture Arrangement, Floral Arrangement and Potpourri workshop launch, who included guest-of-honour Datin Seri Anggraini Sentiyaki, wife of the Tourism Minister, were lured by the colourful sight of chrysanthemums, anthuriums, orchids and carnations as they participated in the workshop by Eva Soo from Trans Floral Sdn Bhd.

Joining Anggraini were Tourism Ministry Puspanita branch chairman Patimah Zohro Hasan, Tourism Malaysia Puspanita chairman Datin Zarina Banu Mumtaz Ahmad and Tourism Malaysia deputy director general Datin Dalilah Ahmad as they learnt to fashion carnations into a hand bouquet.

Soo also taught participants how to style flowers for coffee-table and dining-table arrangement


Getting creative: Anggraini tries her hand at flower arrangement while Abdul Rahim looks on.
The two-day workshop held in conjunction with the Flora Fest 2007 and launched by Anggraini saw the participation of 200 people, including Puspanita members.

Anggraini said workshops are ideal for promoting various ways to use flowers in the home.

“I congratulate the Tourism Ministry's Puspanita for organising the workshop in adding variety to Flora Fest,” said Anggraini who is its patron.

The team from Universiti Putra Malaysia with Associate Professor Dr Mustafa Kamal Mohd Sharif, Shureen Faris Abd Shukor, Abdul Rahim Mohd Rashid and Abdul Karim Mansor conducted the Landscape and Horticulture Arrangement workshop while Greeneco's Abdul Razak Samad showed ways of identifying the right flowers to make your own potpourri at home.

Fees charged were for tools and items as well as breakfast, lunch and tea.

Source: The Star

Putrajaya set to glow with street parades, fireworks

24 Jan 2007
Deborah Loh
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PUTRAJAYA: Putrajaya will celebrate its sixth year as a federal territory with parades on Jan 31 from 9pm until midnight.

Although the main celebration for Federal Territory Day will be held in Kuala Lumpur on Feb 1, Putrajaya is not about to be left out.

Celebrations on the eve of Federal Territory Day will be held at Dataran Putrajaya in Precinct 3, on the Perdana Avenue in front of the Palace of Justice building.

The public should come early to get prime positions along the road to enjoy march past performances and dance formations by various uniformed bodies, cultural shows by all races, including the Chinese lion dance, acrobatic stunts performed on motorcycles by a special unit from the army and a fireworks show.

Putrajaya Corporation president Tan Sri Samsudin Osman said the activities were part of "breathing life and soul" into the country’s most carefully planned city, which has magnificent buildings housing federal government offices, and an estimated residential population of over 50,000. The total working population is around 100,000.

"The event is not just for Putrajaya residents but we want to attract people from Bangi, Dengkil and surrounding areas," Samsudin said at a briefing on the event yesterday.

The Flora Fest 2007, which is being held in conjunction with Visit Malaysia Year, will also be a run-up to the Federal Territory Day celebrations.

The Floral Parade will be held on Saturday along the Perdana Avenue where floats by all the states will be paraded before the Yang di-Pertuan Agong who is expected to attend.

The floats will display the theme "Colours of Harmony" in celebration of Malaysia’s multi-racial society.

The floats will be kept on display for two more days until Jan 29 in special air-conditioned tents for public viewing.

The tents are located along Perdana Avenue in the open parking lot next to the Entrepreneur and Co-operative Development Ministry.

The town is also celebrating with a fishing competition at Putrajaya Lake at Precinct 1 on Feb 3 at 8am.

There are only 1,800 places for this competition, which is held twice a year, as fishing at the lake is otherwise prohibited.

For information about the fishing competition, call 03-8887-7102 and for the night street parade on Jan 31, call 03-8887-7416/7202.

Source: +http://www.nst.com.my

Malaysia to open consulates in Mumbai and Frankfurt

Friday January 19, 2007

BY SIM LEOI LEOI

PUTRAJAYA: Malaysia will be opening two consulate offices in Mumbai, India and Frankfurt, Germany.

Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar said the offices were for Malaysia to take advantage of the economic opportunities offered by both these big industrial cities.

"Mumbai is the Bollywood entertainment capital while Frankfurt is a giant industrial centre. Besides economic opportunities, we also want to boost the number of tourists from both the two cities.

"The Frankfurt office will be operational by next Tuesday while Mumbai's will open in February," he told reporters after launching the books "Useful Tips for the Diplomat's Wife" and the "Manual of Palace Protocol and Etiquette" at his office here on Friday.

On the flood situation in Johor, Syed Hamid said the Government was now focused on alleviating the immediate woes of the victims in coping with their losses.

"The flood situation has been very traumatic for some of them. The state has never experienced floods to such extent. We will need to do some re-thinking about the flood mitigation measures.

"I am very concerned about the post-flood situation. In Kota Tinggi, some people have not been able to operate their businesses for over a month now. Restarting their life will not be that easy," said Syed Hamid, who is also the Kota Tinggi MP.

On the books, he said he hoped that they would help diplomats' wives cope better with their lives when living abroad.

"This is because in the field of diplomacy, the wives or spouses of diplomats actually play a very important role as their actions may make or break their own country's image," he said.

Source: The Star