S'wak, Sabah to promote tourism jointly
Published on: Saturday, April 18, 2015
Kuching: The Sarawak and Sabah state government will forge greater cooperation on programmes and initiatives that could help to promote and spur the tourism industry for both states.Sarawak Chief Minister Tan Sri Adenan Satem said the decision was the outcome of a discussion with his Sabah counterpart, Datuk Seri Musa Aman, during the former's visit to Sabah last month.Adenan said both leaders had discussed and deliberated on avenues in the tourism sector which could help strengthen the economy abd stimulate development in both states.ADVERTISEMENT Among the ways identified in the discussion included drafting out a single tourism hotspots in both Sabah and Sarawak."Apart from the diverse cultures, Sabah and Sarawak are famous for its rich source of bio-diversity and natural resources."Mount Kinabalu is well-known in Sabah, while in Sarawak, we have Mount Mulu. We must find ways to tap into the potential of these rwo spots and other tourism attractions in the two states," he said when officiating the state-level tourism forum here yesterday.Adenan, who is also the State Finance Minister, said the Sarawak recorded a RM10.6 billion income from the tourism industry, which was generated by 4.8 million tourists arrivals last year.ADVERTISEMENT He was confident that the figures would continue to record an incremental trend, provided more efforts and promotional campaigns are carried out to draw tourists.Adenan, however, warned that the state government wanted tourism promotional campaign to reflect the "spirit" of Sarawak.
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"We do not want tourists to come here to have 'sex' (sex tourism). We are not like other countries. We have many things to offer such as nature, adventure abd culture. We must be able to sell these to the tourists."There is a huge market in the state's tourism sector and it would be a niche market segment of the industry players organised the offers properly," he said.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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Adenan also said there were fewer flights to Sarawak."We are a little bit left behind compored to Sabah in terms of the numbers of flights to Kota Kinabalu International Airport (KKIA). There are more flights coming into their airport compared with the airport here. We have restore our airways and increase visitors to the state."