The Penang government should utilise its marine resources to develop an ocean park, similar to Langkawi's Underwater World, to boost flagging tourist arrivals to the state.

Penang DAP organising secretary Danny Law Heng Kiang said the state government would have to adopt an "action speaks louder than words" stance if it was serious to develop new tourism products to attract domestic and international tourists.

"The best option would be a marine or an ocean park, similar to the one in Langkawi or those in Hong Kong, Sydney and Singapore.

"Besides that, the state government should constantly come up with new products," he told malaysiakini here today.

"The state government should secure a RM100 million federal grant to develop these products, including the proposed ocean park.

"Langkawi's Underwater World was built with federal allocation. The Penang government should do the same, instead of lamenting about lack of funds," Law said.

New marine species

In the past few years, researchers from Universiti Sains Malaysia have discovered new marine species in Penang waters, and Law said these findings should be displayed to the world, not through a mini-aquarium, but marine or ocean park.

While the existing mini-aquarium at Batu Maung is attracting 100,000 visitors yearly, mostly domestic tourists, the figure is small compared with Langkawi's Underwater World, which has 10 times more visitors.

Law suggested that the state government should also use part of the federal grant to develop a 'water city' at Swettenham Pier.

He said the water city could have night entertainment, chalets and water sports as well.

"Sydney has one, why not us?" he quipped.

Tourist arrivals to Penang had been gradually dropping for the past four years.

Some 3.75 million tourists visited Penang in 2000, 3.47 in 2001 million visitors; 3.42 million in 2002, while last year saw another drop at 3.03 million tourists.

The sharp drop was caused by a lack of international arrivals, especially from Europe, Australia and the Far East.

Killer diseases

The state government has frequently cited the breakout of various killer diseases, wars in West Asia, Sept 11 attack on the United States, terrorist bombings in Indonesia and now the troubles in southern Thailand, among the major reasons that deterred international tourists from coming to Penang.

However, even during good times, a majority of the international visitors had have used Penang as only a getaway, not gateway, to visit other destinations in Southeast Asia, especially Phuket, Hatyai and Bangkok in Thailand, Bali in Indonesia and even Langkawi.

Many tourism industry players, who do not want to identify, had pointed out that Penang seriously lacked attractive tourism products of international standards.

Domestic tourists make up most of visitors coming to Penang, mainly due to its delicious food and various festivals such as Pesta Pulau Pinang, Taipusam, Chingay and International Dragon Boat Festival.

Majority beach resorts are not enjoying brisk business while city hotels are slightly better off due to arrivals of business-based guests.

Law called on the state government to speed its work to build the much-hyped Teluk Bahang - Penang Hill cable car project and the development of Pulau Jerjak into a major island tourism resort in order to turn Penang into an international hub to compete with other destinations in the region.

"Besides the marine or ocean park, and water city, the cable car and Pulau Jerjak projects have potentials to become major international attractions. Without these products, we can only watch tourists going to other destinations. It's time for the state government to stop talking and work to deliver," he said.

ATHI VEERANGGAN is malaysiakini's Penang-based stringer.