Award winning Kata earns praise
Published on: Sunday, December 31, 2017
THE Kadamaian Tourism Association Sabah (Kata) received special mention by State Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun when he said his Ministry will be focusing on rural tourism next year.It was in conjunction with Kata winning the Ministry's Special Award at the Sabah Tourism Awards.Masidi said then that he was pleased to acknowledge that the people at Kadamaian in Kota Belud, had built their tourism (industry) from scratch without or little assistance and were actively involved in promoting rural tourism products themselves and that up to September, the Kadamaian people had earned up to RM500,000 from rural tourism and that they had fully embraced technology to promote their destination.
ADVERTISEMENT
Kadamaian Tourism Association chairman, Walter Kandayon when asked to comment on the RM500,000 revenue earned from rural tourism as mentioned by Masidi said the amount was the total of all the tourism activities from their homestay activities, transportation and sales of village products. Walter said so far 50,000 visitors had visited Kadamaian and that next year they were expecting even more visitors to visit Kadamaian."We estimate next year we will be receiving up to 200,000 foreign and domestic visitors with estimated earnings of up to RM2 million revenue from our Kadamaian rural community tourism programmes. "Next year I was also made to understand that the state government for the first time will allocate Rm12 million for the development of rural tourism in the State.
ADVERTISEMENT
"With Kadamaian's selection as a pioneer in the Rural Tourism Development in Sabah, I am confident and sure that Kadamaian will be one of the special recipients with regards to the allocations to be provided by the government."Walter said he was grateful for Masidi's appreciation towards the Kadamaian community.
ADVERTISEMENT
However he also clarified that Kata did receive some assistance after its inception from the government and its leaders in the form of funds to run their activities."Many of our official programmes have receive funding from government leaders, departments and ministries. "Nevertheless it is also true that the community's early efforts to develop tourism centres in the rural areas arose from our own initial efforts to be independent and the effort of our own members own capital and community gotong royong efforts to set up the basic infrastructure from natural resources such as nipah, bamboo and wood timber. "To simplify management a community committee was also set up to oversee all the early activities from setting up tourism centres to the tourism business management activity. "Actually we really need the assistance of the government, however we also believed that the assistance will be easier to come if we can prove to the government in the first place that we are serious in going into the tourism field in our area. "Today this has been proven as the government has acknowledged our aspirations by choosing Kadamaian and Kiulu as pioneering examples of rural tourism in the state." "At the same time we were fortunate that the Sabah Tourism Board (STB) under its Chairman Datuk Joniston Bangkuai had also set up a rural tourism division in 2014 headed by Julinus @ Julian Jimit, with a focus on rural tourism development. Walter said the setting up of the unit had greatly assisted Kata in making their planning come to fruition. "The ongoing encouragement from STB has also acted as a catalyst for the spirit of the community to move forward. Walter also expressed his thanks to Masidi for his proactive involvement in helping Kata. "The Minister also provided a tagline idea to Kadamaian tourism 'The Paradise side of Mount Kinabalu'. This line of tag is important as our basis in introducing Kadamaian 'home to nature' to the world.He said the establishment of Kata also received strong support from Communications and Multimedia Minister Datuk Seri Dr Salleh Said Keruak."Kata's vision is to make Kadamaian into a world class Tourism Destination by 2025. Since its inception in 2015, Kata has carried out various programmes towards its vision. He said among the programmes that have been implemented by the association include Tourism Awareness which involves collaborating with the Sabah Tourism Board (STB) and the Sabah homestay Association to organize tourism awareness and homestay workshops adding that Kata had so far successfully given a course of over 1000 participants from Kadamaian."We also engage in conducting motivational programs in villages to encourage communities to set up tourist centers. so far 60 per cent of 74 villages in Kadamaian have been given a motivational briefings by Kata."In terms of promotion we are also cooperating with government agencies and departments such as Sabah Tourism Board (STB) , Sabah Parks, and the Kota Belud District Office to hold promotions."Thus with their assistance Kata had organised various programmes also such as the Kadamaian Nature Challenge (KNC), Visit Kadamaian Month, Roadshows at Imago Shopping Mall Kota Kinabalu, Unesco Malaysia Day cebrations and others. He said they have also collaborated with MCMC in setting up a mycribooking programme for online marketing that aims to market future tourism products online. A total of 80 participants have attended this programme which represents all tourism centres in Kadamaian."We have also organised collaboration with STB, Co-operative College of Malaysia and Ascot Academy for rural tourism programmes." Walter said as of September 2017, the number of visitors that had visited Kadamaian was about 50,000 and generated revenue of RM500,000 with 90 percent of the visitors are domestic and the rest are from overseas. "Among the foreign tourists that do visit us are tourists from Europe, Australia, China and also our Bruneian neighbours to name a few. Our peak period for overseas visitors usually starts in May and lasts until September while for Malaysian visitors it is year round. Walter added that In light of the large numbers of Chinese visitors to the state and the increase in direct air-links from China to Sabah, Kata was also undertaking efforts to bring more visitors from China and Taiwan by organising special programme including Familiarisation-trips for foreign tour agents to visit Kadamaian.When asked to explain how villagers started being involved in Tourism activities in Kadamaian Walter said it was a natural choice as the area had some of the best natural attractions in the country. "We have a range of wonderful natural tourism attractions such as mountains , clearwater rivers, caves, natural forests, cultural and agricultural activities. To give you an example part of the Malaysia's First World Heritage Site Mt Kinabalu is also located within the boundaries of the Kota Belud district. "In addition we also have Mt Nungkok , Mt Nopungguk and several other wonderful mountains in our area which are habitats to interesting and diverse range flora and fauna." He said the positive attitude of the Kadamaian community which is friendliness, community spirit and having an independent spirit was also key factors in setting up tourism activities in the area. "Based on these advantages we did not face hurdles in our efforts to encourage the local community here to venture into the tourism field." When asked about the benefits for the local community Walter said it was his opinion that the tourism activities in Kadamaian had an positive impact on the social development, culture, environment and economy of the local community. "The rural tourism activities here have also created much job opportunities for the youth where they can work as staff of the tourism centres such as guides, counter information staff, security personnel and others. Tourism activities also can give rise to side or spin off tourism related activities such as the commercialisation of culture, food, research, photography and others. He said Kata was active also in ensuring an awareness of the importance of environmental conservation, especially on the new generation in Kadamaian.Marketing is the cornerstone of this the success of our Tourism programme. We recognize that marketing activities are crucial in ensuring the success of this business.As such since 2015, we have been 'positioning' Kadamaian as the location of one of the most beautiful tourism destinations in the world, with a unique culture, friendly Kadamaian people, unique tourism products and many more. We are also offering competitive services and tour package that are budget friendly. Currently Kata is in the process of updating its tourism packages so that it is always available year round to our visitors.Speaking about the development of community tourism centres in Kadamaian, Walter said the process was carried out in stages. He said at the early stages in 2015, only about 10 percent of the 40 tourism centres were operational."This figure rose to 30 percent in 2016 and the rest was only operational starting 2017. However , the process of creating viilage level tourism centres still continues in several villages such as Kg Koung Malaan, Kg Tuguson , kg Gondukut, Kg Kiau bersatu and others.As such it can be said that we have only just begun our operations. As such the number, of visitors and the revenue from such activities can be said to be still at a low level. On the numbers of the Kadaimaian community involved in the rural tourism activity, Walter said it can be estimated based on the number of tourism centers and their membership. "At present, 40 tourist eco-centres have been created by Kadamaian communities. On average, each center consists of 100 family members, one person representing a family. If a family has five households, a total of 20,000 beneficiaries benefit from the overall tourism activity in Kadamaian."The level of involvement of villagers in an areas rural tourism can be estimated based on the number of tourism centres and its members. At this time in Kadamaian there is already a total of 40 eco tourism centres that have been set up by the rural community here." Walter said on average, each centre has about 100 families heads participating. Thus if a family has five members on average this would mean a total of 20,000 recipients that benefit from the tourism activities in Kadamaian. When asked about the types of visitors and their nationalities, Walter said the bulk of their visitors were still Malaysians. Meanwhile other village tourism committee leaders and guides in other areas of Kadamaian also expressed their agreement that the rural tourism programmes in their villages had also benefited the people there. Kg Melangkap Tiung Kota Belud Eco Tourism Committee Chief Domius @ Damius Bin Talindap said the rural tourism programme impact on the economy of the village community was positive."It provides an employment opportunity for the youth such as being tour guides. Additionally it also helps to increase the income of the community, this is because such tourism activities also allow the community to sell their handicrafts, fruits and other village produce to tourists who visit the village. He said among the rural eco-tourism attractions at Kg Melangkap Tiung was river fish tourism where visitors can swim, play and take pictures with river fishes in cold and clear river waters."Another is the Sosogohon water falls at 180 feet in height which is located in the middle of virgin forest. Beside this we also have another waterfall; the Ulu Paramat water falls where visitors can trek to the falls beside the river through unspoilt natural beauty and enjoy a dip and maybe picnic at the falls " Abukindija bin Sadok who works as a local guide and tourism attraction ambassador in Kg Sayap Kota Belud said local made up the majority of visitors to his village rural tourism programme.He said through the data collected from March to Early December 2017, the average tourism arrivals in the village is about 30-55 visitors per week and 94 per cent of the visitors are locals with the remainder being foreign tourists."Kg Sayap has its own uniqueness offering attractive panoramas and views from the mountains and hills in the area, water falls, unique flora such as the largest flower in the world the Rafflesia flower and clear, cold jungle rivers. "At present we also have 37 attractions here with 16 Hiking/trekking activities and 10 homestay/lodges and the remaining attractions being herb and flowers, fruits and others. Popular attractions at Kg Sayap are hiking the Lituk, Montoria, Ponuntungan trails, Pondok Terbalik (upside down hut), homestay activities and a visit to porohon garden.He also agreed that the people at Kg Sayap also benefited from the rural tourism programme which offers not only employment opportunities but also economic development in terms of retail opportunities, homestay business among others. "It cannot be denied that the development of rural edutourism introduced in Kg Sayap has opened the eyes of all the people here and also outsiders of the beauty of our village area attractions and attracted them to come." However he said if the roads accessibility can be improved to his village then it can certainly facilitate the edutourisms plans there. "It also can offer the potential of making the Kg Sayap one of the key tourism centres in Kedamaian in time to come."Eco Tourism Tegudon Tourism Village (TTV) Committee Chairman Saiko Yuna @ Liko and TTV Secretary Commitee Jakunis Gindua when met said among the village tourism programmes available were Camping/picnics, trekking to waterfall, visit of paddy fields, viewing the Stars/Milky way (depend on weather) and beautiful views of Mount Kinabalu among others."Yes in my opinion the programme has been beneficial and represents a positive development for the local villagers including job opportunities who are able to earn a side income . The most obvious impact on the villagers here since the setting up and operations of the ecotourism 29th April 2017 is the opportunity for youths and students here to have a source of (part time) income ... as they are directly involved in the activity of the village tour guiding activity / river guide activity," said Saiko. "Although we have been in operations for close to seven months i.e. start of the eco tourism in April 2017 only, the most important impact we see since the was that our youth/students in the villages have the opportunity to earn a part time income from the tourism industry as they are directly involved in the activities such as trekking guides and guides for river activities. Jakunis said: "At the same time the women folk in the village also are able to earn part time income from providing meals for visitors where as a result of this we have also set up a cooking club in the village. Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
Daily Express Malaysia
