Cherating Beach regaining popularity among tourists

KUANTAN: Cherating Beach, located 47km north of here and 133km from Kuala Lumpur, used to be a popular leisure spot among locals and foreign tourists.

Many tourists were more familiar with the beach than the state capital of Kuantan.

In the late 1990s, however, tourism dwindled as Cherating, once a traditional and scenic village, was taken over by robust development.

This was a time when the beach appeared to have lost its magic and no longer attracted many visitors.

But things have turned for the better in the past three years, as the beach has become a surfing paradise.

Now, Cherating has regained some of its former glory, drawing tourists back to the beach.

Idros Yahya, general manager of the Tourism Ministry’s Pahang office, said the Cherating Surf Festival held for the past three years was among the efforts to promote the beach as one of the world’s leading destinations for wave-riders.

“Tourists are returning to the beach as surfing is possible throughout the year. The waves are ideal,” he said.

Idros said the beach not only attracted surfers from Australia, the Maldives, Thailand, Taiwan, Japan and France but domestic tourists as well.

He said the festival, held at the end of each year, had managed to restore Cherating’s image as a tourist destination.

“It also provides the opportunity for local surfers to show their talents, as well as learn from foreign surfers,” he said, adding that villagers benefited from the business opportunities available.

Idros said organiser Billabong Pro Am included Cherating Beach as one of the stops on its surfing circuit calendar for 2012.

“Billabong has included the beach in the Asia Surf Championship. This shows that the beach has been recognised as a surfing destination,” he said.

Idros said Cherating Beach was the only one in Malaysia that had been turned into a surfing beach by the Tourism Ministry, adding that it was now listed among 19 new tourist destinations in Pahang.

“Based on statistics, Cherating received 194,075 tourists in 2008 and 198,764 in 2009, while for 2010 there was a jump to 301,819 visitors,” he said. — Bernama