Penang State Exco for Tourism and Creative Economy YB Wong Hon Wai recently led a Penang State Government delegation, together with representatives from the Penang tourism industry, to Zhuhai, Guangdong, China, for the “Fall in Love with Penang” Greater Bay Area Tourism Roadshow.
The visit aimed to use Zhuhai as a strategic launchpad to deepen Penang’s presence in the Pearl River Delta tourism market, while leveraging the Greater Bay Area as a key source market to further expand Penang’s reach among China travellers and strengthen Penang’s brand presence as an international tourism destination.
Wong said the decision to hold the “Fall in Love with Penang” Greater Bay Area Tourism Roadshow in Zhuhai was driven by the city’s strategic, with the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge providing direct connectivity to Hong Kong and Macao while enabling access to the wider Pearl River Delta.”
“Zhuhai is strategically located adjacent to Hong Kong and Macao, while maintaining strong connections with Guangzhou, Shenzhen and other major cities across the Pearl River Delta. This makes Zhuhai not only an important gateway linking the Pearl River Delta, but also a strategic entry point for Penang to deepen its presence in the Greater Bay Area and expand its regional tourism source markets,” he said.
Wong pointed out that the Greater Bay Area is far more than a conventional tourism source market, describing it as a highly dynamic market characterised by a large population concentration, strong inter-city connectivity and frequent movement of people.
“The Pearl River Delta, as a key core area of the Greater Bay Area, encompasses major cities including Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Foshan, Dongguan, Zhongshan, Huizhou and Jiangmen. It has strong economic vitality, robust consumer spending power and an extensive transportation network that facilitates convenient travel between cities, creating favourable conditions for cross-city tourist flows,” he said.
Wong said the significance of the Zhuhai roadshow went beyond promoting Penang to the Zhuhai market alone.
“More importantly, we are using Zhuhai as a strategic launchpad to reach across the Pearl River Delta and the Greater Bay Area. We want to move beyond a single-city approach to tourism marketing and adopt a more regional market strategy, so that we can establish a presence in one city, reach across the wider region and ultimately expand our market footprint as a whole.
“This is an important step by the Penang State Government to deepen our presence in the Pearl River Delta and expand our tourism source market across the Greater Bay Area,” he said.
Wong further highlighted that Penang is already well connected to the Greater Bay Area, with direct flights linking Penang with Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Hong Kong.
“At present, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Hong Kong are the three Greater Bay Area cities with direct air connectivity to Penang, with a total of 41 direct flights per week from the Greater Bay Area to Penang
. This translates to more than five direct flights a day on average, providing travellers from the Pearl River Delta and the wider Greater Bay Area with convenient and diverse air travel options,” he said.
“These three air links complement one another and provide a strong transportation foundation for Penang to deepen its presence in the Greater Bay Area tourism market,” Wong added.
Wong also noted that the Greater Bay Area’s extensive land and sea transportation network further strengthens Penang’s accessibility from the region.
“With the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, high-speed rail, cross-border buses and waterborne transport services, travellers from the Pearl River Delta and surrounding cities can make use of various cross-border transportation options to reach Guangzhou, Shenzhen or Hong Kong before connecting to direct flights to Penang.
“In other words, Penang’s connectivity with the Greater Bay Area is no longer simply a matter of direct air links between individual cities. We are looking at an integrated and multi-layered transportation network connecting multiple cities through different modes of transport,” he said.
Wong said this was precisely why the “Fall in Love with Penang” Greater Bay Area Tourism Roadshow in Zhuhai was particularly significant, especially its business-to-business (B2B) session.
“The B2B business matching session was not limited to tourism industry players from Zhuhai. We also welcomed tourism industry representatives from Foshan, Zhongshan and Macao, creating a direct platform for Penang tourism industry players to engage and establish connections with industry partners from different cities across the Greater Bay Area.
“Through these business matching sessions, our Penang tourism industry players were able to establish industry networks across the Greater Bay Area, laying the groundwork for future product development, reciprocal tourist flows and commercial partnerships,” he said.