PENANG should be able to maintain the 6.3 million tourist arrivals it recorded last year for 2009, according to Malaysian Association of Hotels (MAH) Penang chapter president Marco Battistotti.

He said the arrivals should mainly be from other Malaysian states, countries in the region and the Middle East.

“Although there is a slight drop in arrivals from the Middle East due to the coming Ramadan, we expect this to pick up in September after the fasting month,” Battistotti said.

“The period after Ramadan is still considered a holiday season in the Middle East. We believe many will take leave to travel.

“Thus, tourist arrivals to Pe-nang will be supported by the Middle East market in the third quarter.”

He said there was a slight drop of 3.5% in Penang’s hotel occupancy rate in the first six months of the year compared to the corresponding period last year.

He, however, said the occupancy rate for hotels in the Tanjung Bungah and the Batu Ferringhi belt was 3% higher than last year for the six-month period while there was about a 5% decline in the occupancy rate for hotels in George Town.

In 2007, Penang recorded 5.2 million tourist arrivals according to statistics from the Tourism Ministry.

Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said the state government had established the Penang Global Tourism Sdn Bhd as the state’s vehicle to drive tourism.

“It aims at securing commitments from the Federal Government in tourism projects for Penang and working with local tourism players to improve the basic infrastructure,” he said in a statement.

“The expected commencement of the upgrading of the Penang Hill funicular train in the next few months by the Federal Government with an expanded budget from RM40mil to RM60mil is a positive sign of how the federal and state governments can work together for the benefit of the people.”