Cooling down: Visitors enjoying themselves at the Legoland Water Park amid the heatwave in Johor Baru. — THOMAS YONG/The Star
JOHOR BARU: Theme parks, especially water parks, are enjoying a triple boon this season – and it’s not just because of the school holiday season in both Malaysia and Singapore – but many people want to just jump into the water because of the current heatwave.
The weakening ringgit is also attracting more Singaporeans to Johor.
Wong, a 42-year-old Singaporean, said he decided to bring his two children to the water park in Legoland as it would be good for a family outing.
“Besides Johor, we are also planning to travel to other parts of Malaysia,” he said, adding that the favourable exchange rate also allowed him to spend more in the country.
Another Singaporean known only as Ali, 51, said he brought his family of five to the Desaru Coast Adventure Waterpark as Singapore was having a month-long school holiday.
“I am sure with the present hot spell, many Singaporean families would want to cool down in water parks.
“We planned this holiday some time ago but the attractive exchange rate now means we will have more money to spend while on holiday,” he said, adding that he would be staying in Desaru for about three days.
Ali said his family also planned to enjoy some of the local delicacies, including lobster dishes.
Johor Tour Guides Association chairman Jimmy Leong said tourism was booming in the state especially with the school holidays and also following infrastructure improvements at the two land checkpoints with Singapore.
“Mentri Besar Datuk Onn Hafiz’s move to improve the clearance time at the checkpoints has encouraged more Singaporeans to come to Johor.
“The better exchange rate and the present hot spell are also a boon for our water parks in Legoland and Desaru,” he said.
He added that the average clearance for coaches had dropped from three to four hours to about two hours at the Second Link, and this should be maintained.
Legoland Malaysia sales and marketing director M. Thila said that there had been an increase in visitor numbers, especially with it being the school holiday season in Malaysia and Singapore.
She said its theme park had been getting a lot of visitors especially since the reopening of the land borders with Singapore after Covid-19 pandemic restrictions were lifted last year.
