Kelantan: No foreign visitors, thank you

KOTA BARU: Kelantan is claiming it does not need foreign tourists. This is because most of its tourism ventures are designed for domestic visitors, it said.
State Tourism Committee chairman Datuk Anuar Tan Abdullah said the state wanted to uphold its strong cultural and religious customs, and the state government would not turn Kelantan into a Johor, Penang or Kuala Lumpur, where there are plenty of entertainment outlets.
Such facets of tourism would only lead to social ills and crime, which was why the state preferred a low-key approach in managing tourism, said Anuar.
Anuar was responding to the call by Deputy Tourism Minister Datuk Donald Lim Siang Chai for the PAS Government to change its hard-line and restrictive attitude or lose out on tourist dollars.
Malaysia recorded 17.5 million tourist arrivals last year, but Kelantan only tapped a small percentage of the arrivals, according to the Tourism Ministry.
Anuar said that tourism promotions were under the purview of the federal ministry and not the state.
He said agencies such as Tourism Malaysia and the state tourism action council were under the ministry, so if not many tourists were coming to Kelantan, it was Federal Government's fault.
He added that last year, Kelantan received 4.4 million domestic tour-ists who mostly shopped and sampled the local cuisine, culture and arts.

tunku : nik aziz government is one of the best islamic government in the world, that's why they don't rely on federal government and also foreign tourist to boost their economy. every state should follow their example.but in reality, this kelantan government is one of the worst in the world.if not because of federal help, they are beggars by now.how can an exco member of a state make such statement, never mind, i guess we should put signboard at kelantan borders, foreign visitors are not welcome.