deputy chairman – MALAYSIA WORLD HERITAGE TRAVEL SITE

18 June 2013| last updated at 11:55PM

Tourists to enjoy free guided tours in Malacca

By HANIS MAKETAB | news@nst.com.my

BOOSTING TOURISM: Money from Heritage Tax Fund will finance programme

MALACCA: THANKS to the state’s Heritage Tax Fund, which now has RM2.9 million since it was introduced in April last year, tourists will enjoy free guided tours of Malacca’s heritage trail.

Malacca Museum Corporation general manager Datuk Khamis Abas said the corporation would be organising the tours, which would be funded by the money collected from the heritage tax.

“The tours will take place every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

“Forty thousand ringgit has been allocated for them, which is for a one-year period from this month.
“It pays the allowances of our tour guides.”

The tours would cover the state’s famous and popular attractions within the World Heritage site, such as the Malacca River, Stadhuys, Porta de Santiago, the Malacca Sultanate Palace and the Proclamation of Independence Memorial.

He said the heritage tax was collected by local city and municipal councils, and went towards initiatives related to tourism and heritage, such as publishing a directory of places to stay in Malacca, organising courses under the Malacca Tourism Academy and contributing to the state’s hotel and homestay operators associations.

“Last year, RM2.3 million was collected, while this year about RM657,000 has been collected up to May 15,” Khamis said after giving state Heritage and Youth Committee deputy chairman Datuk Norpipah Abdol a tour of the Malacca Conservation Centre in Jalan Bunga Raya yesterday.

He said the centre, which began operating last Monday, was open to the public.
It focused on the conservation of historical buildings and artefact.

Khamis also said the centre would be used as a venue for lectures, talks and workshops.

The centre is managed by the corporation with the cooperation of the state World Heritage Office, Malacca Historical City Council, Merlimau Polytechnic and Malacca Islamic University College.

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Monday May 21, 2012

Jonker Walk and Singapore’s Chinatown to pair up as twin streets
By ALLISON LAI
allison@thestar.com.my

MALACCA: The city’s famous tourist attraction Jonker Walk is likely to pair up with Chinatown in Singapore as “twin streets” to promote them as tourism destination.

Jonker Walk committee deputy chairman Datuk Gan Tian Loo said the initiative was mooted after it realised that Jonker Walk and Chinatown shared many historical and cultural similarities.

“Both places were one of the earliest Chinese settlements of our forefathers who arrived at then Malaya during the 18th century.

“They feature distinctly Chinese cultural elements and played important roles in the economic development of Chinese settlers at that period,” he said yesterday.

Although the two streets have evolved, he said, their historic elements were preserved and were now popular tourist attractions.

The pair-up as twin streets would help strengthen friendship between Malacca and Singapore apart from benefiting both cities’ tourism industries with millions of tourists arrival recorded every year, he added.

Gan, who is also Duyong assemblyman, said the committee had forwarded the plan to an MP in Singapore.

“A working trip to the republic with visit to Chinatown is also expected soon,’’ he said

He also said the committee was planning to turn Jonker Walk and 20 other streets nearby into a Cultural Town.