KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA, January 29, 2007: It will be the biggest Thaipusam celebration yet with some 1.5 million devotees and tourists expected in Batu Caves on Thursday. Sri Maha Mariamman Temple Dhevasthanam chairman R. Nadarajah said more visitors were expected this time around due to Visit Malaysia Year. “We usually get about one million people on Thaipusam day but this year we expect more tourists to join in the celebrations,” he said. Nadarajah said visitors could expect to see more than 10,000 kavadis and a fireworks display on the eve of Thaipusam. “We will also have 40 cultural shows on the day itself. There would also be more than 550 stalls selling everything from food to clothes.” Thaipusam has been listed among the 50 events coinciding with VMY celebrations and the nation’s 50th year of independence. Tourists have been flocking there since last week to see the preparations for this annual Hindu festival celebrating Lord Muruga’s receiving the holy Vel from Parvati.
The festival is also listed on the “must-see list” for foreign tourists. Recently, a prestigious US travel magazine had voted Malaysia the world’s best tourism destination for 2006. The award was a result of a poll undertaken by Global Traveler Magazine, a monthly magazine published in the US.