Heritage trail in JB

Heritage trail in JB

JOHOR BARU: Experienced tourist guides here feel that the city’s heritage could be shared through a trail passing through the city.

The guides were among 40 participants at a heritage training course organised by the Johor Tourist Guides Association and Iskandar Regional Development Authority.

Tourist guide James Neo, 60, believed the city had a cultural heritage, but it was not well marketed.

“Johor Baru is different from historically-rich Malacca, but we have a unique history and architecture and places of interest as well,” he said.

Neo, an English-speaking tour guide for more than 20 years, said he believed the trail would give the guides ideas on making the city tour more interesting.

“If we give tourists just a brief history of certain attractions, they may not fully enjoy it,” he said, adding that the story-telling element was important.

Another tour guide Haliza Rahmat, 45, also believed that story-telling was a good approach in conveying the history of Johor Baru to tourists.

“We have differing views on how the city developed through the years,” she said, adding that each guide had his or her own story to tell during the tours.

Haliza said that heritage tours were now being promoted aggressively and tour guides needed to be trained on it.

Jimmy Leong, who conducted the course, said that educational tours helped raise awareness on the city’s rich heritage.

“It is a great way to breathe life into Johor Baru’s history,” he said, adding that the tours brought to life the history that might have been forgotten.

Leong, a Unesco-accredited cultural heritage guide and Johor Tourist Guides Association chairman, said the trail covered various parts of the city including Laman Tun Sri Lanang, Bukit Timbalan, Jalan Trus and Jalan Wong Ah Fook.

Tourists had the chance to see the architecture of the Johor Baru South district police headquarters, which has a few old buildings constructed by the British, and the flagstaff at Bukit Timbalan, an old structure built in 1855, he added.

-News courtesy of The Star-