IPOH: Direct flights from Ipoh to Guangzhou in China are expected to operate latest by March this year.

State Tourism, Arts and Culture Committee chairman Tan Kar Hing said the technical part of the initiative was all ready.

“We are in our final lap, and I can confidently say that the flights will be able to operate in the first quarter of this year.

“In order to greet tourists from China, we in Perak need to promote our cashless businesses, as this is one of their requirements,” he told a press conference after announcing an initiative by a private company to shoot a video on Perak for the Guangzhou market at Weil Hotel.

However, Tan said he would later reveal which airline would be operating the route.

Tan said the state government was very serious about the Guangzhou market, and have immediate plans to come up with some 40 short videos on the state, the culture as well as the people.

He said the videos would be produced alongside with the private sector to help promote Perak for tourists in China.

“The videos, each not more than five-minutes long, would then be uploaded on the search engines available in China.

“Currently, when we type Perak or Ipoh in their (China) search engines, the results are not very encouraging, and thus with the videos produced, we hope to change that perspective,” he added.

Tan hoped the videos would gradually be up on social media platforms before the inaugural flight starts.