A cultural dance captivating the audience at the town hall session in Shah Alam.
Selangor expects an estimated seven million visitors in conjunction with Visit Selangor 2025.
State housing and culture chairman Borhan Aman Shah said the government would tap into the tourism potential of every district.
He said this during a town hall session attended by 200 non-governmental organisation (NGO) representatives from cultural sectors in the state.
“In 2023, Selangor attracted 27.6 million visitors in the domestic tourism sector.
“There are plans to promote tourism attractions in Sepang, such as the Orang Asli villages,” he said at the session held in Shah Alam.
Borhan said the state also wanted to capitalise on tourist arrivals at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) in Sepang.
“Next year will be Visit Selangor 2025 and we have tourism attractions such as Orang Asli villages in Dengkil and Tanjung Sepat as well as the Mah Meri cultural village on Pulau Carey.
“We also have economic products such as satay Kajang and nasi ambeng in Sungai Pelek.
“We must promote our unique food products too, such as De-gan famous in Sabak Bernam, which is coconut water that comes with some unique mix of sweetener such as gula melaka.”
He said he would encourage the rebuilding of certain local attractions, such as Rumah Pak Ali, which was built without nails and had been destroyed by fire.
“This house alone attracted a million visitors a year when it was still around,” said Borhan.
He said the town hall session was a good platform for local NGOs to share their input that would be useful for the state’s planning process.
“With their input, we also get to better understand and plan the budget for this sector.
“The NGOs were also briefed on how they could access funding for some of their activities.”
Borhan said every district in Selangor had a role to play in identifying their cultural specialities.
“Petaling Jaya has the lion dance troupe that has participated in local and international competitions.
“There are also state-level competitions for the Indian martial art silambam.
“We have all these cultural products that should be given attention,” said Borhan.
He said for textiles, the state planned to promote Songket Diraja Selangor, Telepuk Diraja Selangor and a range of Selangor’s unique cloth and clothing like batik, kebaya and kelingkan (embroidery).
Meanwhile, feedback from attendees included calls to reopen Komplex Belia dan Kebudayaan in Shah Alam and promotion for homestays.
