AirAsia Promotes Malaysia in View of Weakened Ringgit

17th Aug 2015

AirAsia Bhd Chief Executive Officer Aireen Omar said the carrier has plans to promote Malaysia as an attractive destination for international tourists to visit.

Aireen said the following after AirAsia Runway Ready Designer Search 2015 (ARRDS 2015) grand finale held at Pavilion shopping mall in Bukit Bintang district of the Malaysian capital:

This is our core business – to ensure there’s traffic volume into the country, especially Malaysia and everywhere we fly to. We work closely with Tourism Malaysia and other tourism boards.

According to AirAsia Berhad chief executive officer, everyone in the airplane industry has a part to play in promoting Malaysian tourism.

She said:

It is not only a matter for the airlines, but also for other players in the industry, such as airports and tourism boards.

Lee Bao En Wins AirAsia Runway Ready Designer Search 2015

This year’s AirAsia Runway Ready Designer Search award went to Lee Bao En. This USCI University student won 60,000 AirAsia BIG Points, return flights to Tokyo, Japan, a Dell Inspiron laptop and gets to bring the prestigious trophy with her back home.

In addition, Lee’s design will also be shown at the next Fashion week here in Kuala Lumpur, as well as at other fashion events in Malaysia and the region.

Receiving the award, Lee said she was primarily inspired by Cambodia:

My inspiration came from Angkor Wat and Cambodians and also from the tree barks, in terms of texture and color models.

Second and third place went to UiTM (Universiti Teknologi MARA) student Shazmin Hashim and Ter Mei Ching from the top fashion design school in Kuala Lumpur, Esmod.

Malaysian Ringgit Lowest in 17 Years

Ringgit started falling in late 2014 and by December, dropped to 3.4455 when compared to the US dollar. This was the weakest the currency has been since February 2010.

This wasn’t the end of ringgit weakening though, as the trend continued throughout the 2015. As of 12^th August, ringgit fell to its lowest in 17 years in comparison to the American dollar – RM4.0025 for 1$.