String the pearls around Peninsular Malaysia

Although blessed with superb highways and roads, Peninsular Malaysia remains relatively undiscovered by the large number of foreign tourists we have - simply because there are no daily intercity tours for them to easily get on and get off a tour bus at hotels where they are staying.

Until a tour company decides to tap the huge potential of this service and put Peninsular Malaysia on the world map for great road journeys, tourists would have to hire and drive a car, which now makes greater sense because social distancing has become the new normal.

There are eight major cities or destinations spread across the peninsula that are worth staying for one or more nights and each is unique like a living pearl. They are Kuala Lumpur, Cameron Highlands, Ipoh, Penang, Kota Bharu, Kuantan, Johor Bahru and Malacca.

As there is much to see and enjoy in these eight wondrous destinations that can be covered clockwise or anti-clockwise, the ideal arrangement for upmarket tourists is to rent a car for two to three weeks and stay at each city for two or three nights.

Those who have done so had a time of their lives as they had the most relaxing and fulfilling holiday ever and met the most hospitable staff, as the hotels were carefully chosen over others by car rental companies when offering car and room packages.

And I should know, having first offered such service to foreign tourists in the 1980s. Then, many of the tourists on fly-drive holidays were Australians. I learned that a man and woman travelling together may not necessarily be husband and wife. And it was common for two women to rent a car for two to three weeks and drive all over the peninsula.

Tourists who deserve the red carpet welcome

Tourists on motoring holidays certainly deserve the red carpet welcome as they spread their tourist dollar wherever they go all over the country. In contrast, tourists on zero tour fare packages spent most of their money on shopping, benefitting only the shops, tour leaders, tourist guides and tour operators.

To promote tours around Peninsular Malaysia, either by tour bus or rental car, Tourism Malaysia could perhaps organise a contest for a necklace design using polished hard stones from these eight destinations, with smaller stones in between as spacers to form a stylish necklace.

These hard stones can also be sold individually and named after the city. For example, the common ones can be called Batu Ipoh (Ipoh Stone) and priced between RM10 and RM20 each. Higher quality ones can be named Mutiara Ipoh (Ipoh Pearl) and sold between RM40 and RM60.

The necklace with eight stone pearls and smaller hard stones in between can be priced between RM200 and RM300, but given complimentary by the tour or car rental company to tourists who have completed the full circuit of eight destinations.

In 1982, my brother and I drove from Perth to Sydney and earned bragging rights for having driven across the Nullarbor Plain. Until the Pan-Borneo Highway is ready, the greatest epic road journey in Malaysia will be completing the 1,850km circuit in the peninsula.

But it will be a breeze as automotive fuel in Malaysia is one of the lowest in the world. Petrol stations are easily within reach and prices are not higher in more remote areas. Moreover, the peninsula is relatively safe and secure, with no threat from volcanoes, earthquakes, or typhoons.

Apart from Japan, Australia and the United Kingdom, other major right-hand driving countries such as India, Indonesia and Thailand are huge potential markets for tourists looking for safer and more leisurely holidays, such as in Malaysia. - Mkini