Promoting Royal Belum's allure

The Royal Belum forest, which is part of the Amanjaya Forest Reserve, is being used to draw in more European tourists to Perak.

GOPENG: PERAK will be actively promoting the Royal Belum forest reserve to the European market.

The state has been working extra hard to draw in tourists for Visit Malaysia Year (VMY) 2014, and this was one of the strategies being adopted.

State Tourism Committee chairman Nolee Ashilin Mohammed Radzi said Perak has traditionally been bypassed in tourism promotional activities. "Perak is not in the tourism promotion map, as the normal tourist attractions are Pulau Langkawi, Penang and Kuala Lumpur," she lamented.

Speaking to reporters after launching a community programme at Kampung Jahang, here, recently, Nolee Ashilin said Tourism Perak needed to work harder on advertising and promoting the state which had been identified as having been weak when it came to drawing in tourists.

"We need more travel agents to create inbounds for us. Tourism Perak can only do as much, but those with licences to bring in tourists also need to do their part," she said.

With its work cut out, Nolee Ashilin said Perak was aiming for five million domestic and foreign visitors to the state next year in conjunction with VMY 2014. "Normally, we get 3.5 million tourists annually, but we hope the number will increase significantly next year," she added.

On the target market by Perak in conjunction with VMY 2014, Nolee Ashilin said Tourism Perak would be concentrating on European, Middle Eastern, Singaporean, Chinese and Japanese tourists.

"We have decided to promote Royal Belum as an icon for the European market, while Singaporeans are into food and heritage trails," she said. "Tourism Perak and Tourism Malaysia are working together to showcase different products to cater to different markets."

Nolee Ashilin said Tourism Perak will meanwhile also be going to every district in the state with major tourism products to enhance and help increase its standard of cleanliness and hygiene.

"We will also increase our visibility by erecting more billboards along highways. We hope the three million motorists using the highways will be enticed to stop over in Perak," she said. In addition, a Perak travel fair will also be held next month in Kuala Lumpur.

-nst online.