Kek Look Tong temple draws visitors who are attracted to its natural limestone features and paddle boat rides. — Photos: RONNIE CHIN and ILI AQILAH/The Star
VISIT Ipoh Year 2023 (VIY2023)campaign is seeing tourists thronging the city to enjoy sights like its majestic limestone hills and caves among many other attractions.
With their arrival, the Perak capital referred to as "the city that tin built" has experienced a much-needed boost.
Many visitors have made Ipoh their destination of choice during the recent string of public holidays that coincided with weekends.
Administrator Luqman Hakim, 23, from Seri Iskandar in the Perak Tengah district was in the city for three days with friends.
“We have been planning to come to Ipoh for a long time. Even though Seri Iskandar is only 40 minutes from Ipoh, we never found time to visit.
“We expected a huge crowd during the three-day weekend, so we booked our hotel rooms early and planned our itinerary.
“We visited the Kek Look Tong cave temple, Panglima Lane (Concubine Lane) and also lined up for soya bean food at Funny Mountain.
Panglima Lane, also known as Concubine Lane, is a popular tourist attraction.
“We were at the cave temple at about 9am to avoid the crowd. The cave was really pretty and we tried the paddle boat ride.
"When we were about to leave around 11am, there was a long queue of people waiting to buy tickets for the ride,” he added.
Xin Lin, an engineer from Johor, was in town with her parents to visit relatives.
She said her parents loved the chicken rice in Ipoh so much that they planned to have it at least twice during their visit.
“We don’t even mind queueing up in the hot weather because the food is worth it.
“We used to drive for hours to reach Ipoh but now it is easier since there is a direct flight from Johor Baru to Ipoh,” said Xin Lin.
Benny Teh, who sells yau char kwai (Chinese crullers) at the New Hollywood Restaurant, said tourists arrived as early as 8am.
Funny Mountain is popular among tourists for its soya bean-based food products.
“Most of the food at the stall in the restaurant, including the chee cheong fun and wantan mee sell out very quickly.
“I started stocking an additional 4kg of flour during weekends to cater to more customers.
“Tourists come from all over the country. We have had customers from Kuala Lumpur, Negri Sembilan, Melaka, Kedah and even Terengganu," he said.
Teh says he can tell where visitors are from based on the sauces they request.
Teh said he could tell where the visitors were from based on the sauces they requested.
“Those from Kuala Lumpur want chilli sauce, those from the southern states ask for sambal and those from the north will ask for either peanut butter or kaya.”
Ipoh mayor Datuk Rumaizi Baharin said VIY2023 was a preview of Visit Perak Year 2024, and new tourism products had been introduced.
“It is also a step to put Ipoh on the world map before Visit Malaysia Year 2025.
“Ipoh has the potential to be the country’s main tourism city," he said.
New Hollywood Restaurant that offers Ipoh's delicacies is always packed with customers
The Ipoh City Tourism Initiative, he added, could be expanded into a Greater Ipoh Tourism Region, involving three other local councils – Kuala Kangsar Municipal Council, Kampar District Council and Batu Gajah District Council.
Last month, Rumaizi had said that the number of foreign tourists visiting Ipoh had increased by more than tenfold compared to the period before the Covid-19 pandemic.
He said that about 50,000 tourists from abroad had visited the city between January and April compared to about 4,600 foreign tourists between 2018 and 2019.
The mayor said Ipoh was split into locations and products based on a “3H” concept, namely Heritage, Hipster and Health.
“Under ‘heritage’, we have 27 buildings with colonial architectural designs.
“We are located in a valley surrounded by mountains and limestone hills, which are unique natural attractions,” he said, adding that Sultan of Perak Sultan Nazrin Muizzuddin Shah had declared Kinta Valley Geopark a national geopark in 2018.
“Under the ‘hipster’ category, we have food, arts and culture," said Rumaizi.
Rumaizi says he wants to put Ipoh on the world map before Visit Malaysia Year 2025.
"PlanMalaysia has prepared a food trail showcasing more than 30 hipster cafes in the city, spanning Old Town, New Town and Greentown.
“We also have strong assets and creativity in the music industry and are in the process of getting recognition from Unesco as a Creative City," he highlighted.
Under the ‘health’ category, Rumaizi said Ipoh had medical tourism as well as sporting and recreational events.
“We have new hospitals besides additional beds in existing hospitals to accommodate patients from other countries," he said.
In addition to sporting and recreational facilities in the city, various programmes and events have been planned to attract visitors to Ipoh, including a classic car showcase held last weekend.
Some of the upcoming programmes include the Ipoh Half Marathon (June 25), esport tournament (Aug 12 and 13), Merdeka Ride (Aug 30), Battle of the Bands competition (Sept 23) and the Sultan Azlan Shah Hockey Tournament (Nov 4 to 11).
Rumaizi also said tourism industry players had been urged to come up with interesting packages.
“Hoteliers too can offer interesting packages during the campaign. Apart from improving their facilities, they can hold events to attract tourists."
He suggested that the transportation sector also offer special fares and packages.
“Tour agencies can take this opportunity to design packages to attract tourists to the city,” he added.
Mohd Odzman is calling for traders’ licences to be revoked if they fail to dispose of rubbish appropriately.
Perak Tourism Association president Datuk Mohd Odzman Abd Kadir said Ipoh City Council (MBI) needed to ensure cleanliness of the city and tourism-related premises such as the Memory Lane flea market.
He said he visited the flea market with some guests recently and was dismayed to see rubbish everywhere after the market closed at noon.
“Each trader there is given a space to do business but they seem to have absolutely no regard for cleanliness and no sense of responsibility,” he noted.
Mohd Odzman said MBI should conduct spot checks to ensure the traders dispose of rubbish properly and at the designated area for collection.
“Traders who fail to follow these guidelines should have their licences revoked.
“It is time to act against such irresponsible traders with bad attitude," he said, adding that such action should also be taken against pasar malam stall operators.
