Kota Kinabalu: Tourists and locals who wish to know more about the history, heritage and culture of the State capital now have an option of doing so with the availability of a walking tour introduced by the Sabah Tourism Board (STB), recently. The 9am-11am tour, which is free of charge, is presently held once a day every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.A licensed tour guide from the Sabah Tourist Guides Association (STGA) will lead the tour covering places of interest within the city.
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The walking tour takes visitors through 11 stops starting from the STB building before heading to the former Land and Survey Building and other places of interest such as the Atkinson Tower, Gaya Street, Central Market, Handicraft Market and ending at STB's merchandise shop, Kadaiku, at Sinsuran.Deputy Chief Minister cum Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Christina Liew, who officiated the tour, commended STB for the initiative to further promote Kota Kinabalu.
"I think this is a good initiative that we may look further into. I know in Shanghai they have a whole stretch called Nanjing Walkway where there are no vehicles and where tourists will just be walking around and shopping. "Other countries are also trying to do something similar, and having the free walking tour here is a good start," she told a media conference, Thursday.
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Christina said for a start it will be conducted three times a week and from there they will see how it goes before looking into the possibility of expanding it. She also mentioned the roles which the media can play in helping to promote the tour.
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"We ought to be able to promote this new tour more effectively. Let the people know that there is such a thing here and I am sure we will be able to increase the number of visitors," she said. STB General Manager Suzaini Datuk Sabdin Ghani said the walking tour started on June 23 with about 20 tourists, adding that they are expecting a bigger number next Saturday. She said the tour is open to anyone, tourists and locals alike, adding that they have so far received a mix of tourists from Europeans to locals, Chinese and Koreans who happen to be in the city and want to learn a bit more about Kota Kinabalu rather than spending time at the mall. "This is new, my team decided to introduce the free walking tour because we have a beautiful city," she said. Also present was STGA President S. F. Chin who said at present it is only for English-speaking visitors and that after the first three months, they will look into the response and perhaps STB may consider opening up for Mandarin-speaking visitors. She said STGA is honoured for being called by STB to provide guides, adding that normally STGA provides them with senior guides to ensure quality guiding and attract tourists to take part in the walking tour. She said this also creates extra jobs for STGA guides to assist STB promote Sabah. A statement from the STB stated that the free walking tour concept is relatively a new way to discover cities compared to the traditional tour concept. It stated that today's young travellers are likely to sign up for free walking tours as they have become increasingly popular in other key destinations.
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In 2017, Sabah recorded a total of 3.6 million visitors and 52.1 per cent from the total arrivals were Free Independent Travellers. The walking tour is suitable for this group, who are mostly millennial travellers. Advance booking is required and visitors can book their free walking tour at www.freewalk.sabahtourism.com or email to [email protected]. - Sherell Jeffrey
