IPOH, Feb 3 — The Perak government is planning to come up with a new tourist attraction following the closure of the RM520 million Movie Animation Park Studios (MAPS), which went into receivership due to financial constraints.

State Tourism, Arts and Culture Committee chairman Tan Kar Hing said that it proposed the plan as it believes the closure of MAPS will have an impact on the state tourism, being one of the main attractions among the tourists.

"We will try to build a new attraction around Ipoh or out of the city in order to cover the closure of MAPS.

"This year we will have a few new developments in Ipoh namely the Ipoh Light and Sound Show and Digital Library Art. There are also some other development projects which we will announce soon,” he told a press conference after visiting the Bandar Seri Botani Eco Park 1 here.

MAPS, which was first opened to the public in June 2017, was closed on January 28 until further notice.

The closure notice was issued by the Receiver and Manager of Animation Theme Park Sdn Bhd (ATP) from Messrs Ernst & Young.

Last year, local media reported that Affin Investment had appointed Datuk Duar Tuan Kiat of Messrs Ernst & Young on December 4 as the receiver and manager of property belonging to ATP which is the operator of MAPS.

Separately, Tan also said that the outbreak of coronavirus (2019-nCoV) will have a slight effect on the state tourism.

"The virus is really frightening, but what we worried more is the panic caused by the spread of fake news. These are not facts, but just perceptions.

"However, the state has taken precautionary measures at all its entry points. There is no need to panic,” he said.