GEORGE TOWN, Jan 6 — The Unesco heritage site of George Town, Penang, has been named the eighth holiday hotspot out of 40 destinations worldwide for 2014 by British daily, Guardian.

Though the Malaysian state is the only Southeast Asian destination to have made the list, its Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said there was much room to improve to raise Penang’s tourism potential.

“Although we are in this list, we are still not on the same level as Bali, Indonesia which is very well known,” he told reporters here today.

He said the Penang government was proud the state is back on the international tourist map, but added that it was not yet time to celebrate this achievement.

“It is in line with Visit Malaysia Year 2014, we are making progress but we need to reach Bali’s level,” he said.

Lim said the state lacked the funds to improve its infrastructure, and defended his administration’s decision to impose a hotel room levy at between RM2 and RM3 on visitors for each night of their stay.

“The levy will be implemented on June 1 and we need the funds collected from the levy as we need to upgrade our infrastructure,” he said.

He said the state will not back down from this tax even if hoteliers were to complain.

On January 3, The Guardian had in an article titled “Holiday hotspots: where to go in 2014” named George Town as the eighth spot out of 40 destinations worldwide that include Cape Town in South Africa, Uzes in France, Kolkata in India, Alacati in Turkey, Bordeaux in France, Iran, Belgium and Brazil amongst others.

In the article, Penang was described as one of Southeast Asia’s hottest destinations due to its delicious street food, fine dining, funky hostels and boutique hotels with international events such as the annual George Town Festival and the upcoming international short film festival, Tropfest.