Malaysia Tourism invests in Hyderabad restaurant

Malaysia Tourism on Tuesday kicked off its 'Malaysia Kitchen' programme in India.

Aimed at promoting Malaysia as a tourist destination through cuisine palate, it commenced the programme by making the first investment of 1.5 million ringgits in a fine dining restaurant 'Little Penang' in Hyderabad.

"As part of our larger initiative to open new avenues of mutual development and investment with an active private participation in the hospitality and tourism sector, we have launched the Malaysia Kitchen programme. Under this initiative, we are currently exploring opportunities to convert our standalone outlet in Hyderabad into a chain spread across Chennai, Mumbai, New Delhi, Kolkata, Kochi and Bangalore," Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor, minister of tourism, Malaysia, told the media here on Tuesday.

He said Hyderabad was internationally known for its gastronomical delights and hence became a natural city for Malaysia to commence the programme.

The Hyderabad restaurant would be opened shortly.

The Malaysia government is organising 'Visit Malaysia Year 2007', a year-long celebration to mark the country's 50th anniversary of Independence with a budget of $80 million.

"We are aiming at attracting 20.1 million tourists during the celebrations, of which 4 lakh are expected to be from India," Mansor said.