P'pang night market on the cards
Published on: Friday, July 01, 2016
Penampang: A night market may soon be established to make Penampang a happening place for local and foreign tourists as the district renews its mission to become more visible on the tourism map.Although still at a planning stage, District Officer Luvita Koisun believes it is the way to go as Penampang wants to awake from slumber to become a place where visitors would want to visit.She also said that having a night market would stimulate the local economy and transform the district into a friendly place for both locals and foreigners.
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"We want to see more tourist arrivals in the district which is good for the local traders," she said when officiating a one-day familiarisation tour of Penampang, organised for 70 tour agents, Thursday.She said as a district that is near to the city centre, there is no reason why Penampang should not be a place that tourists would want to visit. She added that the District Office had revived the Penampang Tourism Council last month to promote a collaborative effort among local tourism players, the private sectors and relevant parties in order to push the district's tourism agenda.Thursday's familiarisation tour was jointly organised by the council and the BIMP-EAGA Business Council Penampang led by its Chairman Carl Moosom and hosted by JBorneo Native Village to introduce to the local tour agents what the district has to offer. The agents and members of the media were taken to places of interest such as the Donggongon Tamu, Datuk Peter Mojuntin's statue, Pogunon community museum, the historic St Michael's church and JBorneo Native Village in Lok Kawi.
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The tour was also participated by representatives from the Sabah Association of Tour and Travel Agents (Satta), Sabah Tourism Board and Kadazandusun Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) as part of a synergised effort to market Penampang as place that tourists should come and explore.Under a tagline "Penampang: Sabah's Gateway to Kadazan Natives & Cultural Experience", organisers believe its niche product is the unique tradition of the Kadazan community. The places visited by the tour agents during the one-day trip have their spiritual, cultural, political and economic significance to the Kadazan people.
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Penampang, which is only minutes away from the city centre and the international airport, also offers nature's beauty as about half of the district is said to be covered by forest reserves. Owing to this high tourism value, Luvita reiterated the local authority's commitment in preserving and protecting the environment.During a press conference later, she reaffirmed the District Office's commitment to embark on an ambitious five-year project to clean up the Moyog River and return its state to how it was decades ago when communities could safely drink its water straight.The project would involve all stakeholders, particularly the communities who are living along the river banks and NGOs.She also disclosed plans to plant the most number of trees from Upper Moyog down to Donggongon, which, if all goes well, may go down as a record setter of sorts in the country.She expects both projects to take off in August this year.Meanwhile, Penampang's aim to attract more local and foreign visitors may get a boost when a travel agency, Airworld Travel & Tours Sdn Bhd, gets to finalise a deal involving the use of two chartered aircrafts that would fly in tourists mostly from China.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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