Latest news with #Chua
Business Times
14 hours ago
- Business
- Business Times
Don't waste it: Singapore startup Mottainai turns soy leftovers into plant-based meat
[SINGAPORE] The Japanese phrase 'mottainai' means 'what a waste' – a sentiment that drives Singapore startup Mottainai Food Tech to turn soy leftovers into healthy plant-based meat. Self-described 'Japan fan' Chua Jian Yong, one of the startup's co-founders, chose the name to capture its mission of transforming food waste into products that everyone can enjoy. Its first product, Jiro Meat, is made from okara, a by-product of soy milk and tofu production. The startup faced scepticism when it began, said co-founder Daryl Pek. He recalled people saying: 'Eh, plant-based meat, sure or not? It may not be the best market to enter.' But Jiro Meat emerged a winner in the 2022 DBS Foundation X NEA Hungry for Change Challenge, a competition to find innovative ways to use food waste – giving the team confidence in its market viability, as well as S$35,000 in funding. Backed by grants and investor funding, the startup opened its pilot facility on Wednesday (Jul 23) and is 'ready to commercialise' its first product, said co-founder Carol Zheng, who oversees business development and finance. A NEWSLETTER FOR YOU Friday, 8.30 am SGSME Get updates on Singapore's SME community, along with profiles, news and tips. Sign Up Sign Up Healthy prospects Though okara is 'highly nutritious', there were not many options for upcycling this, said Dr Chua. Heng Chin Wee, Mottainai's co-founder in charge of research, experimented with using fermentation to make it more delicious. Through experimentation, the team arrived at Jiro Meat, which is high in protein and fibre, and low in sodium and saturated fat. This product is made through solid-state fermentation, where microorganisms convert the fibrous, tasteless okara into a more savoury ingredient within two days. In line with the company's mottainai philosophy, the process does not generate waste because 'after fermentation, all my substrates (the surface on which an organism lives) are my end product', said Dr Chua. In contrast, liquid-state fermentation, which is used for products such as wine and soy sauce, tends to generate more waste. In 2023, Mottainai used the funding from winning the challenge to build a lab and scale production from hundreds of grams every two days, to a few kilograms. It also applied for a grant from Enterprise Singapore and secured an investment from Pek's family business, Tai Hua Food Industries, where he is a director. Mottainai received a seven-figure amount in all, which Zheng described as 'enough to support … operations for the next few years'. To support its core business of Jiro Meat, Mottainai also generates income by offering consulting services in fermentation technology and helping other companies develop plant-based products. In 2024, with funds from various sources, Mottainai began work on a pilot manufacturing facility. With fine-tuning of operations, the facility now produces 200 kg of Jiro Meat every two days. At the official opening of its plant in Jurong, Senior Minister of State for Sustainability and Environment Janil Puthucheary described Mottainai's efforts as an example of 'food waste valorisation', which goes towards helping Singapore closing the resource loop by turning the output of one process into the input of another. In 2024, food-waste recycling facilities processed about 138,000 tonnes or 18 per cent of food waste that would otherwise have gone to waste-to-energy plants and the Semakau Landfill, he added. Solid-state fermentation equipment at Mottainai's pilot facility in Jurong. PHOTO: YEN MENG JIIN, BT Supply and demand Mottainai buys okara from a local company at a low price, under a partnership that ensures a steady supply for the next few years. This is 'more than enough' to support full-scale production in the pilot facility, and allows for further increases in output, said Pek. Mottainai now produces Jiro Meat on a made-to-order basis for small food providers, under a Singapore Food Authority licence. 'Sometimes if you go to the temples and their events, you may taste our plant-based meat', said Pek. Its current production is a small fraction of the pilot facility's full capacity. But Mottainai is in talks to establish partnerships with larger businesses. A successful deal would mean regular demand for Jiro Meat, and take the facility closer to running at full capacity. Pek said: 'That would be a needle mover for us.' Mottainai aims to supply manufacturers of dim sum and other food products, as well as food service providers such as restaurants and hotels. Given the low cost of okara, Mottainai can offer Jiro Meat at a price comparable to real chicken, which could nudge food providers into considering it as an option. The regulatory hurdles for exporting meat have also pushed some companies to explore plant-based alternatives, driving possible demand for Jiro Meat. Mottainai does not, however, plan to sell Jiro Meat directly to consumers, as changing current perceptions about plant-based meat would take too much time and money, said Zheng. Consumers may also find it hard to cook Jiro Meat properly, although professional chefs could improve its flavour with seasoning or by blending it with other ingredients. Appropriate cooking methods, along with Jiro Meat's inherent flavour and texture, will result in products that taste just like real meat, said Pek. Food products made from Jiro Meat. PHOTO: YEN MENG JIIN, BT Slow and steady Mottainai's priority is thus to secure large local buyers of Jiro Meat and, eventually, international buyers too. This includes providing Jiro Meat as an ingredient to food manufacturers which export their products. This would put the product into international markets, which are larger than Singapore and may have stronger demand for plant-based products. Mottainai also intends to supply healthcare-sector players. Recognising Jiro Meat's potential in alleviating chronic conditions like obesity and diabetes, some healthcare providers have already reached out in the hope of developing food products together. After securing larger buyers, Mottainai will increase the production capacity of its facility, aiming to reach the rate of 400 kg every two days. If demand grows further, it will consider raising more funds to ramp up capacity. 'We are a lot more 'slow and steady' rather than… just sprinting without looking back,' said Pek.
The Irish Sun
15 hours ago
- Sport
- The Irish Sun
World Pool Championship ace Johann Chua surges into next round as he wins rack in an instant thanks to little-known rule
A POOL star sailed into the next round of the World Nineball Pool Championship with the help of an expert trick shot. The Philippines' Johann Chua thrashed Mohamed Al-Balkhi 9-0 in the first round. 5 Mohamed Al-Balkhi attempted to pot the nine ball by jumping the cue ball over the black and into the one ball Credit: Matchroom 5 His valiant effort saw the nine ball bounce out of the jaws of the pocket Credit: Matchroom 5 Johann Chua then had a chance to win the frame Credit: Matchroom 5 He knocked the one ball into the nine and both dropped into the pocket Credit: Matchroom 5 Chua won the rack and went on to win the match 9-0 Credit: Matchroom And he got off to a flyer after quick thinking saw him take the opening frame. Al-Balkhi first attempted a sublime trickshot, jumping the cue ball over the black to hit the one ball. The one ball then cannoned into the nine ball which hit the jaws of the pocket but refused to drop in. That left Chua with the opportunity to win the first rack and he took it with ease, knocking the one ball into the nine, with both dropping into the pocket to put the 33-year-old into the lead. READ MORE IN SPORT After that it was plain sailing for Chua as he racked up eight more frames to win the match. The world No.5 now takes on Oliver Szolnoki in the next round. Elsewhere British pair Shaw, who is searching for his first major since winning the 2017 US Open, was happy with his performance despite a few mistakes early on. Most read in Other Sports CASINO SPECIAL - BEST CASINO BONUSES FROM £10 DEPOSITS He said: 'I played well overall — made a few mistakes, but I managed to survive and capitalise on my opponent's errors, which ultimately helped me secure the win. I'm looking forward to the next match. 'I'm hoping for a deep run, but I'm taking it one match at a time and staying focused.' Snooker fans baffled as star who's not won a match all year knocks in staggering 147 break
Sydney Morning Herald
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Sydney Morning Herald
‘So bad, it's good': The two-minute soap operas changing the way we watch TV
F ated to My Homeless Billionaire Alpha. Tricked into Having My Ex-husband's Baby. Signed, Sealed, Secretly Married. Believe it or not, these are not the blurbs of teenage fan-fiction erotica. Rather, they're select titles of one of the fastest-growing media phenomenons: vertical micro-dramas. Known as 'duanju' in China, vertical micro-dramas are feature-length movies fragmented into about 60 to 120 bite-sized episodes of one to two minutes, and filmed specifically for smartphones. 'The fundamental storytelling you see in the mainstream market is still there, but everything is really quick – the pacing, tone, all of it,' says Daniel Chua, a producer at Australian vertical production house Turtle Media. In terms of the stories they tell, Chua says they most closely resemble traditional soap operas or telenovelas, replete with cliffhangers, romance and 'crazy shenanigans'. However, micro-dramas pack the intensity of an entire soap into a minute-long episode hundreds of times over. Despite micro-dramas still being a 'sunrise industry', Chua says they have gained momentum. Production houses span the globe – from Content Republic in China to DramaBox in Singapore and ReelShort in California. The latter even overtook TikTok as the most popular entertainment app in Apple's US app store last November. And they're expected to keep growing. China-based industry watchers iiMedia Research estimate the vertical micro-drama market will be worth over $21 billion by 2027, up from $7.9 billion in 2023. So where did these micro-dramas come from, and how did they get so popular? Where did it begin? Short-form videos gained serious traction during the COVID-19 pandemic, says Meg Thomas, a PhD candidate in the University of Queensland's school of communication and arts. 'With everyone stuck at home, platforms like TikTok and DouYin [China's equivalent to TikTok] really exploded,' she says. 'TikTok went from having 653 million users in 2019 to over 1.4 billion by 2021.' At the same time, Chinese romance web novels were booming. Selina Yurou Zhang, a film director at Turtle Media, says the creators of these novels began filming short trailers to promote their books, many of which attracted major attention from viewers. This opened the door for micro-drama producers to purchase the IP from popular online novels and adapt them into mobile-friendly videos. Since then, micro-dramas have travelled the globe, including Australia. Zhang and Chua's production house was the first to set up shop Down Under. It has released popular titles such as Light My Fire – which sees a woman fight to save her loveless marriage – and Fake It Till We Make It, which follows an event planner who hires someone to be her fake fiance following her partner's affair. Both videos claimed hundreds of millions of views over their first two weeks online. Why are they so popular? With clunky (and vaguely pornographic) titles like Captured and Bound by My CEO, it may be surprising that these melodramatic series are performing so well. However, Zhang says it's simply part of the evolving media landscape. 'People have short attention spans now. We have busy and stressful lives, and we just want to scroll on and on to see what's next. [Micro-dramas] are designed for that, designed to hook people.' We're also drawn to the intimacy of micro-dramas, Chua says. A vertical episode needs to frame one character – two at a maximum – at a time, thus bringing viewers closer to the story on-screen. Though Western media still prioritises landscape filming for traditional screens, audiences are becoming more open-minded. 'They're essentially importing a proven Chinese format into markets that are technically ready, but haven't yet developed their own vertical storytelling traditions,' says senior RMIT media lecturer Dr Daniel Binns. 'It remains to be seen if there's a Western appetite for this kind of content, though the overlap with BookTok's preference for formulaic romance suggests an audience is ready and waiting.' How are they made? Vertical micro-dramas are incredibly quick, and often cheap, to produce. Entire seasons can be shot in 10 days to two weeks, Binns says, using minimal sets and focusing on character interaction rather than elaborate production values. Nicholas Westaway – an Australian actor who used to star on Home and Away and worked as a production assistant on shows such as The Good Doctor, but has since moved into acting in micro-dramas – says he has filmed almost 20 verticals over the past year, including Double Life of Mr President. 'An average vertical is filmed in seven to nine days … I normally review scripts before committing to a project, so roughly two to three weeks before a production starts,' he says. UTS associate professor in media Alex Munt says verticals are becoming a 'mini studio system' in China, with many productions using the same sets and casts. 'They replenish the same screen stories [and tell them] in superficially different ways,' he says. 'They cost between $5000 to $10,000 to produce, making them microbudget productions shot with relatively small cameras, like DSLRs, and crews of four to five people. Most have a hyperreal look. The quality of the scripts and the acting is that of student films.' Loading This may not sound appealing, but Munt says their low-budget, corny aesthetic often works in their favour. 'Like television soaps, there's a comfort with the generic storylines and returning actors. There appears to be a sense of the 'so bad it's good', which suggests audiences outside of China engage with the content in a playful, fan-fiction way.' What does this say about our current media landscape? We're no longer as concerned about consuming media in a traditional, chronological way, Zhang says. All micro-dramas are produced with the idea that viewers may be dropping in halfway through a series, or watching out of order. Some may not even watch them at all, instead just listen to them while cleaning the house or walking to work. 'Traditional cinema shows, it doesn't tell. We have to do both,' she says. 'So there's a lot of voice-over … Our statistics show if you don't put the most obvious information in the dialogue at the beginning of each episode, the audience might skip.' There's also an economic dimension, Binns says. 'Vertical video platforms typically charge per episode or per series rather than subscriptions, which solves a key problem big streamers like Netflix face. They can generate big subscriber jumps for popular series like Stranger Things, but then struggle to maintain production momentum to retain those subscribers. The micropayment model makes the economics much more pragmatic – viewers pay for what they actually consume rather than betting on future value.' Could they take over the world? Verticals are expanding beyond China thanks to translation, Zhang says. 'You can add subtitles to shows very quickly with technology, or it could be voiced over. Then it's just remarketed globally,' she says. 'It's already been tested in another market, so you're minimising risk.' However, micro-dramas are usually culturally specific, Zhang notes. For example, A Flash Marriage with the Billionaire Tycoon features a contract marriage – something Western viewers are less familiar with. Subsequently, production houses like Turtle Media are prioritising original micro-dramas, which cater to local audiences. 'Story is king for us,' Chua says. 'Our writers have worked in the film and television industry for over 20 to 30 years. Understanding the fundamentals of storytelling helps us create original content, rather than just regurgitating.' Loading They also work more slowly than their Chinese counterparts, often producing 10 to 15 series a year compared to 70 to 100 in China. While Turtle Media sees progress in micro-dramas outside of China, Munt is less convinced. 'Vertical dramas lure audiences with a soft pornography feel. They cast attractive young actors – often not wearing much and playing out cliched storylines fuelled by lust, desire and transgression – in a middling way.' Are there pitfalls? Zhang and Chua say micro-dramas have become a training ground for emerging actors, directors, screenwriters and cinematographers. However, the MEAA recently released a warning to those auditioning for verticals, citing potential unsafe practices due to the nature of the stories, lack of stunt or intimacy co-ordinators, and so on. This doesn't apply to every production house, Zhang notes, especially those like Turtle Media, which produce less content per year. 'Verticals are like a baby, so when people highlight these negative comments, it breaks my heart because we don't want to be like that [at Turtle Media]. This genre is still growing and if we don't treat it properly, it won't grow in the right direction.' Westaway says he has only had positive experiences in the vertical space, and hopes specific negative experiences won't tarnish the industry as a whole. 'The vertical space is creating many jobs for cast, crew and other creatives. I hope it continues to,' he says. 'If productions fall short of modern industry standards, I hope industry bodies view those situations not as opportunities to punish or make an example of anyone, but as a chance to guide companies to improve and make better overall working environments that can ripple out to the whole industry.' Five popular micro-dramas to watch 1. Fake It Till We Make It (Turtle Media) An event planner enlists someone to be her fake fiance following her partner's affair. As they navigate this sham engagement, jealousy, secrets and societal pressures threaten their growing bond. 2. The Killer Is Also Romantic (MGTV) Two secret agents are about to be married, but when they both suddenly disappear, it's revealed they each work for opposing assassins' organisations. 3. Forever Was a Lie (DramaBox) A girl is taken in by her mother's family after her parents go bankrupt. However, years later, the nanny's daughter encourages the family to turn on her. 4. Fake Married to My Billionaire CEO (ReelShort) After Sam's ex cheats on her and steals her money, Calladan Vandalay marries her at first sight. But he leaves one vital detail out: he's secretly the richest billionaire in the country. 5. Secret Surrogate to the Mafia King (ReelShort)
The Age
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Age
‘So bad, it's good': The two-minute soap operas changing the way we watch TV
F ated to My Homeless Billionaire Alpha. Tricked into Having My Ex-husband's Baby. Signed, Sealed, Secretly Married. Believe it or not, these are not the blurbs of teenage fan-fiction erotica. Rather, they're select titles of one of the fastest-growing media phenomenons: vertical micro-dramas. Known as 'duanju' in China, vertical micro-dramas are feature-length movies fragmented into about 60 to 120 bite-sized episodes of one to two minutes, and filmed specifically for smartphones. 'The fundamental storytelling you see in the mainstream market is still there, but everything is really quick – the pacing, tone, all of it,' says Daniel Chua, a producer at Australian vertical production house Turtle Media. In terms of the stories they tell, Chua says they most closely resemble traditional soap operas or telenovelas, replete with cliffhangers, romance and 'crazy shenanigans'. However, micro-dramas pack the intensity of an entire soap into a minute-long episode hundreds of times over. Despite micro-dramas still being a 'sunrise industry', Chua says they have gained momentum. Production houses span the globe – from Content Republic in China to DramaBox in Singapore and ReelShort in California. The latter even overtook TikTok as the most popular entertainment app in Apple's US app store last November. And they're expected to keep growing. China-based industry watchers iiMedia Research estimate the vertical micro-drama market will be worth over $21 billion by 2027, up from $7.9 billion in 2023. So where did these micro-dramas come from, and how did they get so popular? Where did it begin? Short-form videos gained serious traction during the COVID-19 pandemic, says Meg Thomas, a PhD candidate in the University of Queensland's school of communication and arts. 'With everyone stuck at home, platforms like TikTok and DouYin [China's equivalent to TikTok] really exploded,' she says. 'TikTok went from having 653 million users in 2019 to over 1.4 billion by 2021.' At the same time, Chinese romance web novels were booming. Selina Yurou Zhang, a film director at Turtle Media, says the creators of these novels began filming short trailers to promote their books, many of which attracted major attention from viewers. This opened the door for micro-drama producers to purchase the IP from popular online novels and adapt them into mobile-friendly videos. Since then, micro-dramas have travelled the globe, including Australia. Zhang and Chua's production house was the first to set up shop Down Under. It has released popular titles such as Light My Fire – which sees a woman fight to save her loveless marriage – and Fake It Till We Make It, which follows an event planner who hires someone to be her fake fiance following her partner's affair. Both videos claimed hundreds of millions of views over their first two weeks online. Why are they so popular? With clunky (and vaguely pornographic) titles like Captured and Bound by My CEO, it may be surprising that these melodramatic series are performing so well. However, Zhang says it's simply part of the evolving media landscape. 'People have short attention spans now. We have busy and stressful lives, and we just want to scroll on and on to see what's next. [Micro-dramas] are designed for that, designed to hook people.' We're also drawn to the intimacy of micro-dramas, Chua says. A vertical episode needs to frame one character – two at a maximum – at a time, thus bringing viewers closer to the story on-screen. Though Western media still prioritises landscape filming for traditional screens, audiences are becoming more open-minded. 'They're essentially importing a proven Chinese format into markets that are technically ready, but haven't yet developed their own vertical storytelling traditions,' says senior RMIT media lecturer Dr Daniel Binns. 'It remains to be seen if there's a Western appetite for this kind of content, though the overlap with BookTok's preference for formulaic romance suggests an audience is ready and waiting.' How are they made? Vertical micro-dramas are incredibly quick, and often cheap, to produce. Entire seasons can be shot in 10 days to two weeks, Binns says, using minimal sets and focusing on character interaction rather than elaborate production values. Nicholas Westaway – an Australian actor who used to star on Home and Away and worked as a production assistant on shows such as The Good Doctor, but has since moved into acting in micro-dramas – says he has filmed almost 20 verticals over the past year, including Double Life of Mr President. 'An average vertical is filmed in seven to nine days … I normally review scripts before committing to a project, so roughly two to three weeks before a production starts,' he says. UTS associate professor in media Alex Munt says verticals are becoming a 'mini studio system' in China, with many productions using the same sets and casts. 'They replenish the same screen stories [and tell them] in superficially different ways,' he says. 'They cost between $5000 to $10,000 to produce, making them microbudget productions shot with relatively small cameras, like DSLRs, and crews of four to five people. Most have a hyperreal look. The quality of the scripts and the acting is that of student films.' Loading This may not sound appealing, but Munt says their low-budget, corny aesthetic often works in their favour. 'Like television soaps, there's a comfort with the generic storylines and returning actors. There appears to be a sense of the 'so bad it's good', which suggests audiences outside of China engage with the content in a playful, fan-fiction way.' What does this say about our current media landscape? We're no longer as concerned about consuming media in a traditional, chronological way, Zhang says. All micro-dramas are produced with the idea that viewers may be dropping in halfway through a series, or watching out of order. Some may not even watch them at all, instead just listen to them while cleaning the house or walking to work. 'Traditional cinema shows, it doesn't tell. We have to do both,' she says. 'So there's a lot of voice-over … Our statistics show if you don't put the most obvious information in the dialogue at the beginning of each episode, the audience might skip.' There's also an economic dimension, Binns says. 'Vertical video platforms typically charge per episode or per series rather than subscriptions, which solves a key problem big streamers like Netflix face. They can generate big subscriber jumps for popular series like Stranger Things, but then struggle to maintain production momentum to retain those subscribers. The micropayment model makes the economics much more pragmatic – viewers pay for what they actually consume rather than betting on future value.' Could they take over the world? Verticals are expanding beyond China thanks to translation, Zhang says. 'You can add subtitles to shows very quickly with technology, or it could be voiced over. Then it's just remarketed globally,' she says. 'It's already been tested in another market, so you're minimising risk.' However, micro-dramas are usually culturally specific, Zhang notes. For example, A Flash Marriage with the Billionaire Tycoon features a contract marriage – something Western viewers are less familiar with. Subsequently, production houses like Turtle Media are prioritising original micro-dramas, which cater to local audiences. 'Story is king for us,' Chua says. 'Our writers have worked in the film and television industry for over 20 to 30 years. Understanding the fundamentals of storytelling helps us create original content, rather than just regurgitating.' Loading They also work more slowly than their Chinese counterparts, often producing 10 to 15 series a year compared to 70 to 100 in China. While Turtle Media sees progress in micro-dramas outside of China, Munt is less convinced. 'Vertical dramas lure audiences with a soft pornography feel. They cast attractive young actors – often not wearing much and playing out cliched storylines fuelled by lust, desire and transgression – in a middling way.' Are there pitfalls? Zhang and Chua say micro-dramas have become a training ground for emerging actors, directors, screenwriters and cinematographers. However, the MEAA recently released a warning to those auditioning for verticals, citing potential unsafe practices due to the nature of the stories, lack of stunt or intimacy co-ordinators, and so on. This doesn't apply to every production house, Zhang notes, especially those like Turtle Media, which produce less content per year. 'Verticals are like a baby, so when people highlight these negative comments, it breaks my heart because we don't want to be like that [at Turtle Media]. This genre is still growing and if we don't treat it properly, it won't grow in the right direction.' Westaway says he has only had positive experiences in the vertical space, and hopes specific negative experiences won't tarnish the industry as a whole. 'The vertical space is creating many jobs for cast, crew and other creatives. I hope it continues to,' he says. 'If productions fall short of modern industry standards, I hope industry bodies view those situations not as opportunities to punish or make an example of anyone, but as a chance to guide companies to improve and make better overall working environments that can ripple out to the whole industry.' Five popular micro-dramas to watch 1. Fake It Till We Make It (Turtle Media) An event planner enlists someone to be her fake fiance following her partner's affair. As they navigate this sham engagement, jealousy, secrets and societal pressures threaten their growing bond. 2. The Killer Is Also Romantic (MGTV) Two secret agents are about to be married, but when they both suddenly disappear, it's revealed they each work for opposing assassins' organisations. 3. Forever Was a Lie (DramaBox) A girl is taken in by her mother's family after her parents go bankrupt. However, years later, the nanny's daughter encourages the family to turn on her. 4. Fake Married to My Billionaire CEO (ReelShort) After Sam's ex cheats on her and steals her money, Calladan Vandalay marries her at first sight. But he leaves one vital detail out: he's secretly the richest billionaire in the country. 5. Secret Surrogate to the Mafia King (ReelShort)
The Sun
6 days ago
- Business
- The Sun
Selangor tourism boost with Piano Land cruise ship at PKCT
PORT KLANG: Selangor's tourism industry is set for a major boost with the permanent docking of the Piano Land cruise ship from China at the Port Klang Cruise Terminal (PKCT) starting in the fourth quarter of this year. Tourism Selangor CEO Chua Yee Ling said this move will enhance international tourist arrivals and expand the state's maritime tourism potential. 'The Piano Land ship can accommodate around 2,000 passengers, and PKCT's selection as its home port highlights the terminal's competitive facilities for cruise tourism,' Chua said during the Surprising Selangor Media & Influencer Hi-Tea 2025 event. To improve visitor experiences, Tourism Selangor is designing an exclusive package allowing tourists to travel directly from PKCT to Pulau Ketam without transit. 'Currently, tourists must take a taxi to South Port Terminal Jetty before boarding a boat. With this upgrade, they can go straight to Pulau Ketam upon arrival,' she added. PKCT has also upgraded a special jetty for this purpose. The initiative aligns with short-term tourism packages around Klang and Shah Alam, enhancing Selangor's maritime tourism appeal. Additionally, the Selangor Travel Fair 2025 will be held on July 26 and 27 at Central Market, Kuala Lumpur, featuring over 30 exhibitors, performances, and the launch of the official video and song 'Selangor Kan Ada!' Selangor Local Government and Tourism Committee chairman Datuk Ng Suee Lim said the state aims for eight million tourists this year, targeting RM11.2 billion in tourism revenue. As of March 2025, Selangor recorded 1.77 million visitors, with 72% being domestic tourists. 'Selangor has led in domestic visitors for four consecutive years, with 34.5 million visitors last year,' Ng added. - Bernama
