KEDAH, MALAYSIA: Tourism Council has introduced four new tourism packages to lure foreigners visiting Langkawi to come to mainland Kedah.

Council chairman Datuk Othman Aziz said that the packages, which focused on tourism products in Merbok, Kulim and Alor Star, were selected based on variation from tourism products available in Langkawi.

Othman said the new packages, which cost between RM79 and RM210, included day trips and two-day and one-night trips.

He said that the tourism council hoped to attract 10% of the more than 1.5 million foreign tourists visiting Langkawi yearly to join the packages.

"Most of the foreign tourists stay in Langkawi between one week and a month.

"We hope to offer a variety of attractions to them through these new packages," he told reporters yesterday.

He said tourists would be picked up and dropped at Kuala Kedah jetty by three travel agents.

Othman said among the pro-ducts included in the packages werethe Padi Museum, Kuala Kedah Fort, Merbok River and Sungai Sedim recreation area in Kulim.

He said that the council hoped travel agents in Langkawi would help make the packages a success.

"We have introduced mainland tourism packages to Langkawi-bound tourists in the past but the packages were met with poor response due to poor execution by travel agents," he said, adding that pamphlets had been sent to hotels in Langkawi last week.

Othman said last year, a total of 4.5 million tourists visited Langkawi, of which over 1.8 million were foreigners.