Legoland Malaysia Resort will undertake a new project to attract visitors in the form of an aquarium marine life at its theme park here to ensure that more visitors from within and outside the country come to the park.

State Tourism, Trade and Consumerism Committee Chairman Datuk Tee Siew Kiong said Legoland Malaysia had allocated RM50 million to realise the first phase of the project which would begin construction work next week.

"The project, with a family-based theme, promises a new and attractive experience and is implemented on a joint-venture basis with the world's largest global acquarium entrepreneur, Merlin Entertainment Group and Theme Attaractions.

It will be carried out in stages and will take one year for completion.

"Subsequent announcement will be made by Legoland Malaysia in the third quarter of this year," he told reporters after launching the 40th Anniversary Celebration of Star Wars at the theme park, here today.

Tee said he welcomed such an initiative because one of the development clusters in the Johor Bahru district was to attract more tourists via the theme parks.

At the same time, he also perceived the initiative as a commitment and transformation of Legoland in fulfilling the requirements of the tourism market.

He added that since its opening in 2012, Legoland Malaysia had consistently added attractions and new experiences to the tourists every year, including the introduction of the Water Theme Park, Hotel Legoland, Ninja Go and now, Star Wars.

Accommodation at the hotel had also recorded surplus reservations during the peak seasons such as during the school holidays and public holidays, while on normal days reservations recorded were at 75 per cent.

Tee said that following the encouraging response received, Legoland planned to expand its hotel business in future.

In addition, he urged other tourism product entrepreneurs to always upgrade their attraction capacity to ensure that they were attractive globally.

Meanwhile, Operations Director of Legoland Malaysia Casper Bonavent said the anniversary celebrations for Star Wars began today until May 31.

It presented various activities for participation of the whole family including the Imperial March, Star Wars Miniland Live, Jedi Academy, Spot The Stormtrooper, and Star Wars Trivia Hunt.

--BERNAMA