PENANG: Instead of enduring the hassle of four-day water supply disruption, Penangites opt for short tours to escape.

Short tours offered by tour agencies from 10 to 14 January record a spike in demand.

A short trip to Genting Highlands organised by PTS Travel & Tours Sdn Bhd in Butterworth received overwhelming response with a record number of 36 buses leaving Penang for Genting over the next three days.

The Genting tour flier of “Leave Penang to escape water cut” by PTS Travel has attracted 1,200 sign-ups.

Based on the company’s records, it only had 10 buses leaving for Genting during past peak travel seasons.

All the company’s 13 buses have been deployed for Genting, while calls keep coming in!

In the end, the company has to lease another 23 buses to meet the demand.

Managing director Saw Beng Hooi said this is the first time in 20 years the company has to arrange for 36 buses for the same destination.

“The response is even better than peak seasons such as school holidays or when concerts are held in Genting,” he said.

More than half of those signing up for the tour are new customers such as hawkers, factory workers and retirees, he said.

Even though the price for the Genting tour has gone up from RM150 to RM180 per person due to leasing of buses, the tour remains hugely popular, Saw said.

“It’s not peak holiday season but calls still keep coming in,” he said, adding that the flyer for the three-day, two-night “Leave Penang to escape water cut” Genting tour has met with unprecedented response due to the four-day scheduled water supply disruption in Penang.

A total of 590,000 or 80% of Penang’s residents will be affected by the disruption scheduled from 6 a.m. Wednesday to 6 a.m. Sunday to make way for repair works at Sungai Dua treatment plant.

Saw even resorted to “negotiating” with regular travelers from Kedah to make way for Penangites by cutting the number of buses from Kedah to Genting.

Another tour agency Maxim Holidays received pre-booking of three to five groups of travelers to Hat Yai, Thailand for the coming weekend.

Its chief executive officer Foo Yu Keong told Sin Chew Daily the tours have been scheduled to depart Penang on Friday and return on Sunday.