Message from the Director
Malaysia Next Year
The last decade had seen
budget airlines emerging as a
new phenomenon globally,
providing opportunities for more
people to fly from one destination
to another. For whatever
reasons, more and more people
worldwide are travelling by air as
never before.
AirAsia’s motto “ Now Everyone Can Fly” is more true
now than ever before. While previous generations could
only dream of traveling at will, today it's a reality for many
across the globe. And it's a dream made possible for an
even greater number of people thanks to Internet access
to information, tickets purchases and deals that were
once accessible to travel agents only.
Flying is now regarded by more people as an ordinary
means of travel rather than a special event. That opens
up bigger markets for short breaks and impulse trips, and
creates niches for new types of companies and services.
For the IMT-GT subregion, more and more cities are now
being interconnected. Imagine a direct flight from Kuala
Lumpur to Palembang or Kuala Lumpur to Songkhla that
just takes one hour or so as compared to half a day or
even more with the transit time if the flights were taken
via airports of capital cities like Jakarta or Bangkok.
Easier flight connections would mean more businesses,
more trade and investment, as well as more tourism
activities.
While more flight routes are being invented and cities
interconnected, the IMT-GT Member Countries may need
to consider one proposal made by the IMT-GT Leaders in
th
their 5 IMT-GT Summit in Hanoi, Vietnam to join efforts
in the air-craft manufacturing industry, particularly small
turbo-prop aircraft, which are more efficient to fly and
operate in cases of short flights. It is a challenge that the
existing air-craft manufacturing industries of Indonesia,
Malaysia and Thailand would need to undertake. This is
an area that perhaps Indonesia can lead and excel, given
the experience of the once big IPTN (Nusantara Aircraft
Industry), a pride of Indonesia’s manufacturing industry in
the 1990s.
By Dr. Hassan Ibrahim
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Bangkok Airways Considering Flying To
BERLIN, March 13 - Thailand's private airline, Bangkok
Airways, which touts itself as a "boutique airline", is
considering introducing flights to Malaysia next year.
Mr. Peter Wiesener, Bangkok Airways Senior Vice-
President, who is in Berlin to participate in the
International Tourism Bourse (ITB), said the airline was
planning to use its own aircraft for flights to Malaysia
from 2012.
"Malaysia is an important market for us because of the
growing two-way air traffic with Thailand. We are
considering flights to Malaysia.
"We will start with a code-sharing arrangement with
Malaysia's national carrier, Malaysia Airlines (MAS), in
2011. Thereafter, we will deploy our own aircraft for
flights to Malaysia.
"That will be the next logical step to undertake," said Mr.
Wiesener in an interview with Bernama at ITB, the
world's biggest and most important travel and tourism
fair organised by Messe Berlin GmbH.
Mr. Wiesener said Bangkok Airways was eyeing the
Bangkok-Kuala Lumpur or Phuket-Kuala Lumpur route.
The carrier has a total fleet of 17 aircraft, eight of which
are of the ATR-72500 type, three A323s and six A319
type. The airline will receive another aircraft in
November this year of the A319 type.
The 44-year-old Bangkok Airways is NOT a low-cost
carrier, as the airline officials emphasised at the ITB.
Bangkok Airways flies mainly within Asia. It has flights to
Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Maldives, India,
Bangladesh, Singapore and Hong Kong.
The airline started a flight to Mumbai on March 2 as
India is "our most promising market" in South Asia.
Like Malaysia, Thailand has set up a huge pavilion with
a large group of officials from hotels, tour operators,
travel agents, airlines and individual states showcasing
their products and services.
The Thai pavilion is one of the most popular country
stands at the ongoing ITB.
Source by BERNAMA
Sabang Free Trade Zone and Free Port, Aceh Indonesia

Located northwest of the northern tip of

Sumatera in Aceh Province, the Sabang Free
trade Zone and Free Port is an ambitious project
to develop an international industrial centre and
distribution and logistics hub.

Comprising an area of 24,526 square

kilometres, the free trade zone encompasses
Sabang City (Weh Island, Klah island, Rubiah
island, Seulako island and Rondo island) and
Pulo-Aceh sub-district (Breuh island, Nasi island
and Teunom island), as well as neighbouring
smaller islands. The zone is bordered on the
north by Benggala Bay, to the west by the
Indian Ocean and to the east by the Melaka
Straits.

At this strategic junction, the Sabang Free Trade

Zone is located nearby globally important
shipping lanes and flight routes.

Four economic sectors with good development

potential have been identified and are being
given priority by the Management Board which
is also responsible for the overall development
of the project. These sectors are fisheries,
tourism, industry & manufacturing.

Investment Opportunities in Fisheries Investment Opportunities in Tourism

¯ International Fishery Centre ¯ Diving and snorkelling

¯ Fish catching ¯ Forest tourism

¯ Export fish ¯ Resort & hotels

¯ Dockyard
¯ History tourism
¯ Fishery processing factory
¯ Maritime tourism
¯ Cold storage

¯ Other fishery opportunities

Investment Opportunities in Industry Investment Opportunities in Trade & Services

¯ Fish processing ¯ Banking services

¯ Mineral water processing ¯ ICT services

¯ Manufacturing ¯ Transportation services

¯ Dockyard ¯ Warehouse services

¯ Handicrafts ¯ Travel agency services

¯ Machinery & automobile reconditioning

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Malaysia Budget Hotel Association Aims For More Members

The Malaysia Budget Hotel Association (MBHA) is working to get more budget hotel operators around the country to
become its member. Its President, Datuk Dr Muhamad Nasir Hamzah said the move was aimed at enhancing the quality of
budget hotel services as well as to remove the negative image of budget hotels sometimes portrayed as the centres for vice
activities.

"There are 6,000 budget hotels in the country offering more than 200,000 rooms and with 120,000 employees. From this,
so far only 1,600 hotels are members of the association," he told reporters after the launch of a course on housekeeping for
budget hotels.

Dr Muhamad Nasir said that currently only Selangor and Negeri Sembilan were keen to make it compulsory for all budget
hotels in the two states to register as members with the association. He said the industry, with the majority of hotels run by
locals, was growing fast and these hotels were now sought by western tourists as well as tourists from the Middle East who
like to stay for short period of time. Hotels that become members of the association will be provided assistance on various
aspects including insurance, licensing, promotions and training.

"The membership fee for MBHA is only RM250 a year. For hotels that have 20 or less rooms, the fee will be only RM100,"
he said.

On the housekeeping course, Dr Muhamad Nasir said it was in line with the Ministry of Tourism which took a serious view
of the cleanliness of budget hotels in the country. The course, attended by 200 budget hotel operators, among others,
exposed participants to effective cleaning techniques for their hotels with the use of environment friendly cleaning agents
and in synch with the green element of their premises.

Source: BERNAMA

Malaysia an Important Player in International Tourism, Says German Tourism Expert

BERLIN, March 13 (Bernama) -- A leading German expert on global tourism considers Malaysia as an important player in
international tourism -- both for inbound and outbound traffic.

Mr. Raimund Hosch, Chairman of the Messe Berlin GmbH, which organises the prestigious International Tourism Bourse
(ITB) in Berlin and its Asian edition called ITB Asia in Singapore, described Malaysia as one of the three key tourism
players in Southeast Asia, the other two being Singapore and Thailand. Mr. Hosch said Malaysia and Indonesia would post
"impressive growth" in inbound tourism in future. Malaysian tourism planners could take a cue from Mr. Hosch's remarks
which can enable them to devise a future strategy that takes into account these factors.

"Besides India and China which are not only attractive destinations but also providers of tourists with a growing spending
capacity, we should not lose sight of important players in the ASEAN region such as Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore," he
told BERNAMA in an exclusive interview at the ongoing ITB Fair in Berlin. Mr. Hosch also underscored the growing
importance of Chinese tourists for the ASEAN region.

The number of Chinese travelling abroad for leisure tourism was rising. There are some 150 to 200 million Chinese whose
average earnings are as high as those of West Europeans. Malaysia, along with Indonesia and the United Arab Emirates
(UAE) as well as Europe, will benefit from this trend. Even the growing exports, for example, will contribute to growing
tourism, particularly in the business travel segment," Mr. Hosch added. Meanwhile, Messe Berlin, which started the ITB
Asia in Singapore for an initial three-year period, has renewed the contract to stage the fair at the Suntech Exhibition and
Convention Centre in Singapore for another three years.

Source: BERNAMA

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Budget Airlines Open Up Asia's Skies to the Masses

A decade ago, even some of Asia's wealthier people could face a long bumpy ride on a bus to visit family or take a break
on the beach -- flying was simply too expensive. Not anymore. The proliferation of low cost airlines across the region,
particularly in Southeast Asia, has opened up air travel to the masses. Malaysia-based AirAsia, which launched in 2001,
was one of the first airlines to rip open Asia's skies to the general public.

"Suddenly, people who had never been on planes -- people who lived in villages and used to go on a 12-hour bus ride to
see relatives -- suddenly they were flying," says planemaker Airbus's Asia communications director Sean Lee.
"If the same thing happens in China, India and Indonesia, with their massive populations, imagine -- the potential is huge."

So huge, in fact, that Airbus predicts that a third of all new planes will be sold into the region over the next 20 years -- 8,560
aircraft worth a cool $1.2 trillion. The company has a backlog of over a thousand aircraft waiting to be delivered to the
region. And of those, AirAsia has 175 firm orders for A320s, with a further 50 on option. The airline continues to expand
with the opening of three hubs in Kuching in the east Malaysian state of Sarawak, Chiang Mai in northern Thailand and
Medan in Indonesia. It is also launching operations in the Philippines later this year.

"For 2011, our plan is to further expand our route network and key routes. We also plan to be more aggressive in
penetrating the Indian market and further expansion in China." AirAsia's chief executive Tony Fernandes told AFP.

Cebu Pacific, the Philippines' already long-established low cost carrier, plans to invest a billion dollars in 21 new Airbus
aircraft and hire 2,000 more staff over the next four years to boost its international operations. Singapore's low cost carrier
Tiger Airways, meanwhile, will take delivery of 26 aircraft by the end of March 2011, the company said. India has eight
budget airlines, which have gained nearly half of the market share in the country's rapidly growing aviation sector.

IndiGo, launched in 2006, is the country's youngest airline but has already become the third largest, flying 8.4 million
passengers in 2010, a 16.5 percent share in domestic air traffic. The airline announced a deal for 180 A320s, the largest
number of Airbus planes ever bought in a single order, at the Paris air show this year. IndiGo currently operates only
domestic flights but has ambitious targets for 2011, planning to start flying internationally in August after recently getting
government clearance.

Large scale models of the Airbus suite of aircraft were on display at the Asian Aerospace Expo in Hong Kong, alongside
rival Boeing and the Chinese upstart COMAC, which has its own aircraft on the drawing board if not yet in the sky. All will
be competing for a slice of this massive market which will soon overtake both Europe and North America. Airbus predicts a
need for 5,200 new airliners in the single-aisle 100 to 210 seat category, such as the A320 family. Of these, around a third
will go to low cost airlines. The increase will be driven primarily by the growth of low cost carriers, as well as the opening of
new secondary short haul routes, especially in China, India and Southeast Asia. Airbus expects the number of passengers
carried by Asia-Pacific airlines to rise by 5.8 percent per year, compared to global average increases of 4.8 per cent.

"Asia has traditionally been a wide bodied aircraft market," Airbus spokesman Sean Lee told AFP. "But the single aisle
market is growing substantially, largely thanks to the low cost carrier sector.

"If you look back to 2001 there were basically no (Airbus) aircraft flying with low cost airlines in this region. It's expected to
be 20 percent by the end of this decade -- the growth has been really fast."

There are currently just over 300 Airbus aircraft in service with Asia-Pacific budget airlines, most of which are A320s -- 18
percent of the current in-service Airbus fleet in the region. There is also a backlog of around 370 aircraft on order for future
delivery to budget carriers in the region. Greater liberalisation "open skies" policies, especially amongst the ASEAN block
countries, is also expected to boost air travel in the region, Airbus say. But it might not all be bright skies and sunshine.
Standard and Poor's Equity Research aviation analyst Shukor Yusof says low cost carriers are likely to gain a bigger
market share in the near to mid-term, as much as 20 per cent, as demand for leisure and discretionary travel grows and per
capita income improves.

"That said, we anticipate turbulence in the energy markets to impact low cost carriers the most, given their business model
and limited ability to offset the higher fuel costs," he told AFP.

Source by AFP

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The Southern Thailand Science Park (STSP)
Events in & around the Triangle
The Southern Thailand Science Park (STSP) project
was established, with the support and approval from the
Government and Cabinet, as the centre of technology
transfer and research commercialization in the southern Announcement
region of Thailand. It started its official operation in 2007
to apply Thailand-borne and hence innately Thai
technology to industrial development, that is, to create
products from research and development.
World Halal Research Summit 2011
Date : 6-7 April 2011
STSP provides not only the infrastructure for transferring Venue : Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
of technology and commercialization of research and
innovation but also the driving mechanisms for the
development of the knowledge-based economy. The Malaysia International Halal Showcase
establishment of Southern Thailand Science Park can & Exhibition (MIHAS)
help add value to natural resources existing in the south Date : 8 April 2011
such as rubber, oil palm, sea animals, food and Venue : Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
nutraceutical as well as software industries which may
bring income into the region.

STSP is currently operated by the networking committee 30th IMT-GT Joint Business Council
represented by the higher educational institutions Meeting 2011
(Prince of Songkla University and Southern Thailand Date : 16-17 April 2011
University), the private sector and the National Science Venue : Kota Bharu, Malaysia
and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA). STSP
is also working closely together with the Thailand
Science Park and the North-eastern Science Park in
order to provide the services and supports necessary for
2nd CIQ Task Force Meeting
Date : 22 April 2011
the science park with the international standards.
Venue : Pattaya City, Thailand
During the first phase (2006-2009), the STSP will
provide the services and infrastructures crucial for the
technology business incubation in 6 provinces including Halal Tourism Seminar
Songkhla, Patthalung, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Pattani, Date : 27 April 2011
Surat Thani and Phuket. In Pattani Province, the major Venue : Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
focus is Halal Park. The full support of business
incubation and technology transfer including intellectual
property management and licensing agreement are also WHR Branding
available at all technology business incubators.
Date : 28-29 April 2011
Venue : Bangkok, Thailand
Source:
http://www.idisc.net/en/Incubator.420.html &
http://www.psu.ac.th/en/node/1264

CIMT Bulletin Editorial Team

ADVISOR

Dr Hassan Ibrahim hassan@imtgt.org

TEAM MEMBERS

Ritzwan Reza Ibrahim reza@imtgt.org

Hamiliana Ali hamiliana@imtgt.org

Nurshiela Ismail shiela@imtgt.org

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