20 January 2020: Bimonthly cultural performances and a ride-and-win campaign will be happening at KL Sentral this year

A collaboration between Express Rail Link (ERL) and the National Department for Culture and Arts (JKKN) with the support of Tourism Malaysia, the Visit Malaysia 2020 Campaign has kicked off on 17 January 2020 at KL Sentral Station with a range of spellbinding cultural performances that was enjoyed by a crowd of Malaysians and tourists.

This showcase, which  included popular traditional dances such as Zapin, Joget, Classical Indian Dance, Chinese Fan Dance, Ngajat and Sumazau performed by dancers from JKKN, is a taste of a year-long initiative to promote Malaysia’s vibrant cultural heritage to those passing through the busy transportation hub that is KL Sentral. The cultural performances will take place twice a month (except for May and August) and will last around 45 minutes and are free to view.  

Deputy Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture Malaysia, Muhammad Bakhtiar Wan Chik speaking at the launch

The launch was officiated by the Deputy Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture Malaysia, Muhammad Bakhtiar Wan Chik, who said, “with global trends pointing towards experiential tourism, tourists today want to experience a destination through the rich cultural heritage and creative expressions of the local community. A study by Tourism Malaysia shows that activities related to the arts and culture such as heritage walking tours, traditional dance and batik drawing workshops, amongst others, are sought-after experiences.

“Today, we witness the fruits of cooperation between ERL, Tourism Malaysia and JKKN as an excellent example of the private sector’s initiatives in support of Visit Malaysia 2020. I would like to urge more industry players and operators in the travel and tourism ecosystem to come forth and join us. The ministry and Tourism Malaysia look forward to supporting your initiatives and together, we can ensure a successful Visit Malaysia 2020 Campaign,” he added. 

The government is targeting 30 million tourist arrivals and RM100 billion in tourist receipts this year, and ERL is banking on more than just the cultural performances to achieve those figures by introducing the Monthly KLIA Ekspres Ride & Win Campaign that commences on 1 February 2020. This is organised in collaboration with Tourism Malaysia and tourism partners for prize sponsorships to add more vigour to the Visit Malaysia 2020 Campaign. The Ride & Win Campaign is open to all KLIA Ekspres customers who buy train tickets during the campaign period and enrol online to win monthly grand prize sponsored by the tourism partners.

Chief Executive of ERL Noormah Mohd Noor delivering her speech

“ERL will play our part to promote Malaysia as a preferred destination, and work together with Tourism Malaysia, hotels, travel agents and other partners to support the Visit Malaysia 2020 Campaign. We will continue to provide special promotions such as the Family Package and Group Saver as well as enhance our transport packages for tourists such as KL TravelPass and Discover Kuala Lumpur to better meet the tourist needs,” said Chief Executive of ERL Noormah Mohd Noor. “When tourists fly into Kuala Lumpur, one of their first Malaysian experiences will be on board our train as they make their way into the city. With our impeccable 99.7% on-time performance and safety record, we aim to provide a great first impression to these visitors.”

Following the launch, the Deputy Minister greeted KLIA Ekspres passengers arriving from KLIA and presented them with Chinese New Year goodies

The cultural performances will be held on the following Friday dates in 2020 (Note: there won’t be any performances in May and August)

WHERE KLIA Ekspres Arrival Hall, KL Sentral Station, Kuala Lumpur 
WHEN 3.45pm-4.30pm

Click here for further information on the Happenings @ KL Sentral and KLIA Ekspres Ride & Win Campaign.

View the photo gallery of the launch below: