By V. Sivaji
Not many hotels can claim credit for being located in a prime and pristine location like the Taiping Lake Gardens.
The 113-room Flemington Hotel Taiping offers such ambience and setting for visitors and guests.
What more, the hotel is well equipped with luxuries like the Chinese restaurant, Lobby Lounge, Coffeehouse, conference and seminar facilities, gym and more.
Only 5-minutes away from the hotel are other major attractions of the town, such as the Taiping Zoo and Night Safari, Perak Museum, Chinese and Buddhist temples, Colonial buildings, Bukit Larut, popular street food destinations and more.
Flemington Hotel’s general manager, Vincent Ee said that with the interstate travel allowed, there has been a surge of tourists coming to the town which was in the heydays a hotspot for tin mining.
“We are happy to note the arrival of tourists and visitors to Taiping as it will help us sustain the hospitality industry after months of travel restrictions.
“As a hotelier, we welcome the inter-state traveling since Sept 16th, 2021, with the occupancy rate surge by 40% in the months of October and November. However, Year-to-date (YTD) occupancy rate remains low at around 23%, far below as it used to be between 60%-70%.
“With the current increase in occupancy rate has given us (hoteliers) hope and breathing space to regain what has been lost since Covid 19 pandemic started in early 2019,” said Ee.
However, he added that Taiping is still one of top choice locations to visit in Perak for domestic travellers as it is also known as Bandar Warisan with lots to offer from historical, nature and adventure. He also urged visitors to comply with the SOP issued by the government during their visit to Taiping.
Meanwhile, the town of Taiping has an impressive 40 “first” in the country.
Among them includes the first Open tin mining activity in the peninsula (1844), Hill resort – Maxwell Hill (1844), Swimming pool – Coronation Swimming Pool (1870), Mosque – Masjid Tengku Menteri (1870), Rest house (1870), Artillery warehouse (1870), Magistrate court (1874), Balai penghulu (1875), Resident’s house (1877), Port – Port Weld (1877), English school – Central School Kamunting (1878), Police force (1879), Government offices (1879), Post and telegraph office (1880), Lake gardens – Taiping Lake Gardens (1880), Taiping General Hospital, private and government (1880), Club – New Club (1880), Club – Perak Club, Railway station and warehouse (1881), Museum – Perak Museum (1883), Market building – Taiping Markets (1884), Prison – Taiping Gaol(1885), Railway track – from Port Weld to Taiping (1885), Turf club – Perak Turf Club (1886), Anglican church – All Saints Church, Taiping (1886), English girl’s school – Treacher Methodist Girls’ School (1889), Clock tower – Taiping Clock Tower (1890), Esplanade – Esplanade (1890), Malay newspaper – Seri Perak (June 1893), English newspaper – Perak Pioneer (July 4, 1894), Tamil newspaper – Perak Verthamani (1894), Armed Forces – Malay States Guides (1896), Teaching college – Maktab Perguruan Melayu, Ceylon association (1899), Punjabi association – Khalsa Diwan Malaya Association (1903), Indian association (1906), Recreation park – Coronation Park (1920s), Airfield – Tekah Airport (1930), Golf Club (some claimed in Southeast Asia), Library – Perpustakaan Merdeka and Fire brigade.
The next time you are on the North- South Highway make sure to check out Flemington Hotel and its surrounding attractions.
