The virtual tour is far from the real thing, but that does not mean it cannot be pleasant. Some licensed tour guides in Malaysia are already providing virtual tours of world-famous and well-loved destinations across the country and they are worth a try. On “Explore Malaysia Virtually”, visitors can participate in real-time virtual tours with real tour guides or choose to watch recorded clips available on its official website exploremalaysiavirtually.com.

The tours are mainly based on Malacca (the main attractions include Kampung Morten and Praya Lane) and Kuala Lumpur. Here, the guide will lead you on a tour of the ‘Old Kuala Lumpur’ and the Kuala Lumpur we know now. Through stamps and newspapers, there is also a characteristic in the history of Malaysia.

There are currently four hosts on the site: licensed tour guides Tajuddin Idrus and Shaukani Abbas, who are co-founders of Explore Malaysia Virtually; Nadge Ariffin, an award-winning heritage guide; and Martin Theseira, a community leader within the Portuguese Settlement in Ujong Pasir in Malacca.

It is hoped that these virtual plans and other similar plans will help to restart or revive domestic and international tourism in the upcoming months.

Interested people can make their booking for these well curated tours on the official website or can find them on booking platforms such as Airbnb and Buddyz.

Tajuddin Idrus is also the co-founder of Kuala Lumpur On Foot, which is all about exploring the city of Kuala Lumpur on foot and it also offers limited walking tours in Malacca. However, during this period of conditional movement control order (MCO), visitors can view the organization’s most popular online product “time travel” which offer virtual tour of Kuala Lumpur in the 1940s.

At the same time, travel platform LokaLocal is also conducting 143 virtual tours on its official website lokalocal.com, featuring tourist destinations across Malaysia. The 360° tour is not much different from the Google Map view, but it is more comprehensive because there are short audio descriptions of each place.

If visitors look for something more educational and with cute animals to boot, check out the virtual safari experience provided by the Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre (www.bsbcc.org.my) in Sandakan, Sabah.

It is hoped that these virtual plans and other similar plans will help to restart or revive domestic and international tourism in the upcoming months.