With all tourism developments taking place in Nusajaya, the entertainment complex near to Johor Bahru, Malaysia has now ambitions to turn the area into a new Orlando for Southeast Asia…
MANILA- For decades and decades, the Malaysian city of Johor Bahru with its 550,000 inhabitants- stood in the shadow of its mighty Southern neighbour Singapore. It had –and still in someways continues to have- a bad reputation, largely echoed by Singapore media: Johor Bahru is often described as a “cowboy town” with hordes of bad guys just waiting the right opportunity to rob Singaporeans from their valuables. The reality is quite different.
Although JB –as it is commonly referred in Malaysia- has its share of crimes, the city is not less safe than any other big metropolis in the region. At a press conference organized last year, the local police force admitted that they are on average 350 to 500 crimes per year in town (which implies 1 to 1.5 crime per day). However, they are over 15 million people visiting Johor Bahru every year, including some 14 million of Singaporeans…
Johor Bahru offers a lot to travellers keen to discover a city which is still highly influenced by its rulers, the Sultan of Johor Bahru. The Sultan’s palace, the old mosque or the museum testifies those days of the magnificence of the Sultan’s at the beginning of the 20th century.
But now, Johor Bahru is likely to be increasingly associated with all leisure developments centered in the district of Nusajaya, a 20-minutes ride out of JB. The opening of Legoland – the first of its kind in Asia- in late September, is repositioning the all area into a family-oriented leisure destination. “We expect to welcome up to 1.5 million visitors at Legoland Malaysia, mostly domestic travellers and Singaporeans. But we believe also that we will be able to attract many visitors from neighbouring countries such as Indonesia and Thailand”, explains Thilakawathy Munusamy, Director Sales and Marketing of Legoland Malaysia.
The area is likely to further gain in importance. A second theme park is opening in November near to Legoland. Puteri Harbour Family Theme Park will integrate a Sanrio Hello Kitty Town, the first of its kind dedicated to the famed toon figure outside Japan as well as the Little Big Club, an indoor attraction for kids offering rides and entertainments centered around popular children characters such as “Thomas & Friends” or “Pingu”. It will be completed with Asia’s first theme-restaurant integrating the characters of Malaysian cartoonist LAT. By 2015, these various thematic parks will be completed by the opening of a giant aquarium and a water-themed entertainment park, the Ocean Quest Marine Park and Ocean Splash Water Park, as well as the construction of a couple of upscale resorts, including a five-star facility, the Damai Desaru as well as golf courses.
“We are confident that the entire area will then become the equivalent of Orlando for the region,” highlights Mrs. Munusamy. A very important step has been the improvement of the connectivity to the Park. There is a direct shuttle bus to Legoland from both Changi Airport in Singapore and Senai Airport in Johor, as well as regular bus services to the city centre of Johor Bahru and Singapore. “We are on average 20 to 30 minutes away from both metropolis”, assures Mrs. Munusamy.
Luc Citrinot a French national is a freelance journalist and consultant in tourism and air transport with over 20 years experience. Based in Paris and Bangkok, he works for various travel and air transport trade publications in Europe and Asia.
