Kuala Lumpur: Four initiatives offering innovative packages and products will be implemented to uplift the multi-billion-ringgit tourism industry and attract more foreigners.

The proposed initiatives are providing infrastructure to facilitate the development of hotels and resorts in remote areas, building shaded walkways in the KLCC-Bukit Bintang vicinity, restructuring the Civil Aviation Department into Civil Aviation Authority and developing an integrated eco-nature resort in Nexus Karambunai, a renowned resort in Sabah.

Kalao Voyages managing director Ooi Chin Hock, who has been a guide and tour operator for 25 years, lauded the proposal for Karambunai.

"The location of such a resort is important so that it will not be a waste and I believe that is why focus was given to Karambunai."

The 2011 Budget announced by the prime minister yesterday also proposed that import duties on a host of goods preferred by tourists be abolished so that they can be sold at competitive prices.

"To promote Malaysia as a shopping haven in Asia by providing branded goods at competitive prices, the government proposes that import duty on some 300 goods preferred by tourists and locals, at four to 30 per cent, be abolished," Datuk Seri Najib Razak said.

"Such goods are apparels, handbags, shoes, shampoos, suits, children's apparels, wallets, hair colourants, golf balls, costume jewellery, talcum powder, curtains, table cloths, blankets, shirts, undergarments, lingerie, nightwear, perfumes and mosquito netting."