Tourists from Japan, Singapore, China participate in George Town Heritage cycling

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GEORGE TOWN: A total of 30 tourists from Japan, Singapore and China participated in the George Town Heritage Cycling programme in the city, which has been recognised as a Unesco World Heritage Site since 2008.

Penang Tourism Malaysia director Harun Pilus said the programme being organised for the first time by the ministry was held as an added value in promoting cycling activities and the state’s rich heritage to Asian countries.

“Television crews from Japan, TV Asahi are also invited to participate and they will be shooting travelogue during the programme being held yesterday.

“The participants will be cycling in the heritage trail for about five kilometres and they will be taken to try the delicacy of Penang as the island is known as a food paradise,” he told reporters here yesteray.

He said, the cycling activities around the heritage site should be promoted  aggressively as the cycling tourism trend was rapidly developing across the country.

Harun said George Town has over 20 heritage sites and each destination could be reached by simply cycling. He hoped such leisure activities would attract more local and foreign tourists to the state in the future.

“Throughout last year, the rate of hotel accommodation recorded in the state was 6.35 million people, including 2.88 million foreign tourists,” he said. — Bernama