IN the bid to strengthen the ties between Malaysia and China, a ‘Letter of Intent- Establishing cultural and tourism cooperative relationship between the city of Qingdong and Penang’ was signed by Penang Global Tourism CEO Ooi Chok Yan and representative from Qingdao Municipal Foreign Affairs office Gao Qun today, witnessed by exco member for Tourism Development, Heritage, Culture & Arts, Yeoh Soon Hin
The objective of this collaboration is to promote cooperation in both the governmental and non-governmental fields as well as to promote tourist publicity, tourist projects and cultural activities between both the cities.
“During the winter season in Qingdao such as now, the people in the city usually travel to Hainan which is much warmer.
“It takes around three hours to travel from Qingdao to Hainan and if you travel one hour longer you can reach Penang,” said Yeoh, who also encouraged more tourists from China to visit Penang.
According to Gao, the city of Qingdao shares similarity with Penang as there is a heritage site in Qingdao just like here in Penang, thus this initiative would be very significant for both the cities.