WINGS AIR TO FLY INTO MELAKA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

Wings Air start operation at Melaka Airport

July 13, 2010

This is the second Airlines operating in Melaka for the new airport. Wings Air using Brand new aircraft (ATR72-500) fly into Melaka from 9 July 2010.

Schedules are :-

Pekan Baru (PKU) 1025 Melaka (MKZ) 1215Melaka (MKZ) 1245 Pekan Baru 1235
Daily flight from Pekan Baru – Melaka – Pekan Baru but with Wings Air you can Connect to Jakarta : Depart Pekan Baru at 1440 and Arrive Jakarta (JKT) 1620.

Price for one way Melaka – Pekan baru is RM214.

The ATR72-500 have a capacity of 72 Economy Class Seating. More info about Wings Air here.
Introducing this new Wings Air can enhance key area like tourist arrival from Indonesia, people that want to seek Medical attention in Melaka and Indonesian students.

Near future other possibilities of new airlines are Eastern Airlines from Nanjing China and Royal Brunei Airline.

Webmaster: All Malaccans must now work harder to get more flights into Melaka International Airport. The newly renovated and extended airport can now accomodate full Airbus 320 and Boeing aircrafts. Special charter flights can be organised into Melaka.

MELAKA RIVER MONORAIL & MINI ROLLER COASTER

Melaka 1.6 Monorail from Taman Rempah to Hang Tuah Station at Jalan Bunga Raya are expected to be completed by September 2010.

Besides the Hang Tuah Station that is being built near to the former Cathay Cinema is a Mini Roller Coaster.

The Monorail track is about to be completed while the Hang Jebat Station at Taman Rempah has been completed.

TOURISM MELAKA FIRST SURVEY

Tourism Melaka is undertaking our first on-line Tourism Melaka survey.

Visitors can log onto our website and participate in this Tourism Melaka survey.

Simply answer our questions in our on-line survey and submit once you have answered the questions. Your feedback will help us to inform the necessary agencies in Melaka in improving our products and services for visitors.

As a token of appreciation for taking your time in participating in our inaugural survey, one of the participants can win a complimentary day tour from Kuala Lumpur to Melaka.

So, why not take part in this survey now. We value your feedback and comments.

Thank you.
Webmaster
www.tourism-melaka.com

MELAKA AND GEORGETOWN, PENANG DECLARED WORLD HERITAGE CITIES ON 7TH. JULY 2008

Time flies and very soon Melaka and Georgetown, Penang will be celebrating the UNESCO World Heritage Cities status on 7th. July. Both these cities were declared as UNESCO World Heritage Cities on 7th. July 2008.

It is very important that we focus on preserving the heritage status of both cities so that our future generations can enjoy the fruits of our labour.

We need to maintain and build on our well-earned status so that visitors from all over the world can enjoy our cultures, food and hospitality.

Let us strive to make our cities better and better in years to come. We must not rest on our laurels.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO MELAKA AND GEORGETOWN FOR BEING DECLARED WORLD HERITAGE CITIES BY UNESCO ON 7TH. JULY 2008.

PUDU JAIL ( 1895 to 2010 )

Pudu Jail wall after demolition on 24th. June 2010

Yesterday, 21st. June 2010 at 10.00pm, was a sad day for all Malaysians when the 115 years old Pudu Jail in Kuala Lumpur was partly demolished.


Pudu Jail was built by the British in 1895 to house convicted persons who were a threat to the civilised society.


Numerous prisoners met their death in Pudu Jail over the years until 1996 when the last convict was executed.


Eventhough Pudu Jail had an infamous history which we may not be proud of, we cannot demolish history by bulldozing the physical foundations of the building.


It is unfair to the history of Malaysia and Malaysian citizens when some government officials said that Pudu Jail has no heritage value despite it was 115 years old.


We cannot live in self-denial that such buildings (even with their dark history) cannot be made a heritage building. Maybe, it was the valuable real estate that the building stood on that made the government of the day to think otherwise.


Melaka lost her valuable city walls in the 19th. century because the British wanted to destroy Melaka's fortifications so that Melaka cannot rise up again. They wanted to build up their new cities like Singapore and Penang.


Luckily, it was Sir Stamford Raffles, the founder of Singapore who came to Malacca to recuperate, saw the utter madness by destroying the City Walls of Malacca.


Through his intervention and a strongly worded appeal letter to Lord Minto in Calcutta, India that a small part of Malacca City Walls was safe.


This important relic of yesteryears was none other than the "A Famosa" which still stands today.


"A Famosa" is the most photographed icon visitors can remember about Malacca. The other is the "Stadthuys" which was the Dutch Governor residence in Malacca.


The sad part of the whole Pudu Jail affair is that in months to come, Pudu Jail will only live in memories of people who remember Pudu Jail and in photographs of Kuala Lumpur of the past.


RIP Pudu Jail


Au Revoir Pudu Jail of Kuala Lumpur ( 1895 to 2010 )

HOP ON N HOP-OFF MELAKA RIVER CRUISES

MELAKA RIVER CRUISE will soon launch a HOP-ON N HOP-OFF Melaka River cruises to visitors for RM 10.00.

Tickets can be bought on the boats which will allow visitors to drop off and come-on at designated spots along the Melaka River.

Currently, the spots are : Kampung Morten, Medan Selera, Melaka River Pirate Park, Padang Nyiru, Tourist Police and Jonker Street.

By doing so, visitors can visit interesting places along the Melaka River before continuing their visits to other places.

This new service will be useful to visitors. Maybe in the future, it will allow travellers to buy tickets for different spots along the river based on different fares. For example, if we want to travel on to the next spot, we can pay RM 1.00 for the journey, RM 2.00 for 2 spots etc.

We can turn the Melaka River Cruise into a mode of transport and beat traffic jams on the roads.

Something for us to think about.

CURTAINS FALL ON REGAL HOTEL, MELAKA.

REGAL HOTEL ( 1969 TO 2010 )

Regal Hotel at Jalan Bendahara, Melaka, which was once THE HOTEL in Malacca, in early 1970's has been sold to a Singaporean investor.

The original owners of Regal Hotel viz. the family members of Woh Chun Hardware, started Regal Hotel in 1969.

During that time, the 5 storeys hotel with room airconditioners in each room and a lift to the Chinese Restaurant on the top floor, was the hotel Malaccans can be proud of.

Various dinners and functions were held at this Chinese Restaurant there.

However, over the years, especially during the 1980s, multi-storey high rise hotels were built.

The most notable one is the Ramada Hotel (later Renaissance Hotel, Melaka) opened in 1984 operated and managed by the Ramada Hotel chain. Later, the Ramada Hotel chain terminated their contract and the Ramada Hotel was renamed Renaissance Hotel, Melaka.

To date, Renaissance Hotel, Melaka is managed by JW Marriot and is a 5 Star hotel in the heart of Malacca.

Regal Hotel original owners later disposed the property to a local hotel operator in 1990s and was renamed "New Regal Hotel".

Some effort was made to spruce up the hotel in later 1990s but "New Regal Hotel" was not able to compete with new entrants of budget hotels in Melaka.

In late May 2010, the "New Regal Hotel" was sold to a Singaporean hotelier who operates the "Hallmark Hotel" at Jalan Kubu.

Since then, the premises have been shut for renovation and refurbishment. It remains to be seen how the new refurbished hotel will look like but all Malaccans will want it to remain an affordable hotel to visitors.

The new name should also be known when the refurbishment are completed by the end of 2010.

Malaccans look forward to long term investors to Malacca and other investments in the tourism sectors.