7 March, TAIPING – Taiping has once again done Perak and the nation proud when it emerged as the world’s third best city at the Sustainable Top 100 Destination Awards 2019 held at ITB Berlin, Germany yesterday.
The top spot in the Best of Cities category went to Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia, followed by Vancouver, Canada.
It was only two months ago that heritage city Taiping was listed in the world’s Top 100 Sustainable Destinations.
Taiping Municipal Council (MPT) president, Datuk Abd Rahim Md Ariff said he was delighted with the achievement and proud that it was made possible by the joint effort of the whole community including the agencies involved in ensuring the sustainability of the city.
He said it was the first prestigious award of world-standard won by Taiping although it had previously received a number of national and international awards such as ‘Best Destination Manager 2016′ given by the Tourism Promotion Organisation for Asia-Pacific Cities and the Gold Award by the Malaysia Tourism Council in the Heritage Tourism Destination category in 2017.
“I hope that all the agencies implementing the laws related to environmental preservation and sustainable development will continue to be committed to shouldering their respective responsibilities for Taiping to remain a sustainable city.
“All its residents and visitors must contribute to ensuring that Taiping is always clean, well-maintained and protected from environmental damage,” Abd Rahim said in a statement today.
At the ITB Berlin (Internationale Tourismus-Borse Berlin) or International Travel Trade Show Berlin, Abd Rahim received the award on behalf of MPT.
Also present were Perak Menteri Besar, Datuk Seri Ahmad Faizal Azumu; state Tourism, Arts and Culture Committee chairman, Tan Kar Hing and MPT secretary, Borhan Abdul Halim.
– BERNAMA