TOURISM Malaysia or the Malaysia Tourism Promotion Board has appointed Datuk Dr Ammar Abd Ghapar as its new director-general effective April 12.
Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing has agreed to appoint Ammar to officially replace Datuk Zainuddin Abdul Wahab who retired compulsorily on April 10, according to Tourism Malaysia.
Graduated with a PhD in Hotel and Tourism Management and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), Ammar was previously the senior director of Tourism Malaysia’s international promotion division (Americas, Europe and Oceania).
Having served for 35 years in the public service, Ammar has also been entrusted to carry out the duties of senior director of management in addition to leading the strategic planning division as well as the domestic & events division of Tourism Malaysia.
Apart from been appointed as the Tourism Malaysia’s director of the finance division, he also held the position of foreign affairs director in Osaka and Moscow in 1999 and 2008 respectively as well as having served as the state director of Tourism Malaysia Kedah/Perlis in 2005.
In 2021, Ammar headed the Secretariat of the Travel Bubble Task Force to drive recovery efforts in the country’s tourism industry which was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
He remains an adjunct professor at the Universiti Teknologi MARA’s (UiTM) Faculty of Hotel and Tourism Management until today. – April 14, 2023
