Originally Posted by
El Regina
I used to work in the tourism industry, and based on our study, we found out that most foreign visitors to Malaysia, specifically in KL, have seriously lack of knowledge about the attractions available in the capital city. Majority of them came to us and said that the only attractions they knew about KL are:
1) KLCC/ Petronas Twin Towers
2) Petaling Street (China Town)
3) Merdeka Square
4) Batu Caves (Which is located in Selangor actually)
5) Jalan Alor
6) Bukit Bintang
Thats all about it. Most of the travelers who have visited KL in the past also didnt help very much because they will inform and pass about these same cliche attractions to the next traveler. And the cycle continues...
If you check out TripAdvisor, there are so many attractions available in KL but there will be only less than 1000 reviews for most of the attractions. Why? Because many travelers didnt bother to make a lot of homework and research about the city and they ended up to visit the same attraction again & again. Thus, other underdog attractions (which in my opinion are so much better and worth to visit than those famous attractions) remained unknown, deserted and empty. But luckily since few years ago, the KL Tourism Bureau realized about this situation and they have made more aggressive marketing to the traveler about the existence of less-known attractions and introducing new attractions in KL city. If you think there is not much things to see and do in KL during your last visit, please bear in mind that things are not always the same. The situation has changed.
I work with a consultancy to the Prime Minister's department and although I do not handle this particular account, I do have informal chats from time to time especially on regional travels with the team who do work with this government office about KL and tourism.
The majority of travellers who do stop over in KL do so for a short time frame and want to head out to the islands and beach's and resorts. They are not into hiking at Bukit Kiara as an example or are interested in bird parks.
Fair enough, there are who will bring their kids to the bird park or will check into Sunway Lagoon and spend 3-5 days there with the kids before flying off somewhere else or back home because they are in KL specifically for a reason.
The other type of tourist are the ones who come specifically for local food, given how famous Malaysian cuisine is and seafood is, especially the curries and the chinese style of cooking.
But, by en-large, the lack of information or rather why the information about Malaysia is not reaching people who want to know is because they already know what they want and don't want and as long as they get to do/see what they came for, they are good and ready to leave KL and move on to the next destination.