A city coming of age

20 Apr 2018 2085 | World Travel News

No longer viewed as the boring sibling of adjoining Kuala Lumpur, the state of Selangor is steadily coming onto visitors’ radar, driven by a new crop of hotels, competitive rates, and a strong roster of ecotourism and man-made attractions.

New hotels, many of which boast “excellent” locations, are what made Selangor a much more compelling sell nowadays, opined Arokia Das, director, Luxury Tours Malaysia.

The recently opened New World Hotel, which sits adjacent to the iconic Paradigm Mall in Petaling Jaya, is a prime example, according to Arokia.

Other new upscale hotels like Sunway Clio Hotel and Sheraton Hotel Petaling Jaya are also located close to big shopping malls, making them good lodging options for Asian tourists, he added.

Arokia is also pinning hopes on the upcoming DoubleTree by Hilton@i-City as a new four-star option for i-City Theme Park visitors. Park-goers currently prefer to stay in Sunway or Subang areas due to the absence of international branded properties in the vicinity, Arokia posited.

Meanwhile, Selangor’s cheaper room rates has always been an attractive proposition for the state.

Said Arokia: “On average, the contract rate savings for a five-star hotel (in Selangor) is around 20 per cheaper than that of a similar star category in the city centre (in Kuala Lumpur).”

Furthermore, the recent expansion of i-City Theme Park, which saw the launch of Red Carpet 2 in August 2017, has further raised Selangor’s attraction as a theme park destination, pointed out Adam Kamal, general manager at Tour East Malaysia.

The two-storey, 2,787m² Red Carpet 2 is a bigger extension of Red Carpet – Malaysia’s first interactive wax museum located at another part of i-City – featuring some 100 wax figurines of famous personalities and sculptures of superheroes.

Sunway Lagoon, the other key theme park in the state, also introduced Nickelodeon Lost Lagoon – the first Nickelodeon themed attraction in Asia – two years ago.

Adam remarked: “With two major theme parks, there is reason for tourists, especially millennials who want an experiential holiday, to extend their stay in Selangor by one night. Both theme parks are also close to Kuala Lumpur, which makes it suitable for day trippers from the city.”