Kota Kinabalu: Currently, Sabah only has eight registered Korean speaking tour guides, which are insufficient to accommodate the influx of Korean tourists to the state, said State Tourism, Culture, and Environment Minister Datuk Christina Liew.
“Although Korean tourists may understand basic English, most prefer to communicate in their native language. Therefore, the government is supporting requests from tour operators to hire tour coordinators or interpreters from Korea to meet this need.
“This hiring is also subject to the government’s requirement of a three-to-one ratio of local to foreign workers,” said Liew in her winding-up speech at the State Legislative Assembly sitting.
She also responded to issues raised by Assemblymen from Sindumin, Senallang, Lamag, Sukau, Elopura and Tanjung Aru.
“Even though tour coordinators or interpreters are Korean nationals, tour operators must also provide a local sit-in guide for every tour package conducted,” she added.
Regarding the monopoly of tourism companies owned by foreigners, especially Koreans, she said in addition to the limit on local and foreign equity holdings, all tourism companies seeking registration must comply with the Tourism Act and the Companies Commission of Malaysia (SSM) Act.
Permits for white or green tourist buses or excursion buses could only be granted to tourism companies registered with Motac, she said.
Regarding the suggestion to lift Sabah from the red zone advisory, which affects tourist arrivals on the East Coast, she said Tourism Ministry had provided input and views to the Eastern Sabah Security Command (Esscom), and they are reviewing the effectiveness of the Implementation of movement control orders.
She said the Sabah Tourism Board would visit Kuala Lumpur to meet with embassies of countries that had issued unfavourable travel advisories towards the state to assure them that Sabah is a safe destination to visit.
Regarding sand mining on Balambangan Island, Kudat, she said as of now the Department of Environment had not received any environmental impact assessment (EIA) report on sand mining activities on the island.
On the status of the Sabah Malaysia My Second Home programme (SBH-MM2H), she said the Cabinet had reviewed and approved the criteria for application last week, and applications to participate in the programme are expected by the end of next month.
“My Ministry is currently in the final preparation stages to ensure that the standard operating procedures (SOP) for this programme will be easy to adapt by applicants,” said Liew.
On the calls to improve the facilities at the Kota Kinabalu International Airport, especially toilets, air conditioning, parking and seating, she said Malaysia Airport Holdings Berhad (MAHB) had made improvements to increase buggy and baggage trolley services, refurbish public seating. The upgrading works carried out in two phases are expected to be completed by early 2025.
On the suggestion to provide incentives for high fare rates, she said the State Government does not have any plan to intervene in airline companies regarding fare rates for any destination, especially for flights to Sabah.
“Flight ticket prices follow the dynamic pricing mechanism practised by any airline company worldwide based on supply and demand for a particular product or service by that company,” said Liew.
However, she said the Tourism Ministry would hold continuous discussions with airline companies to urge them to be more considerate in setting flight ticket prices, especially during festive seasons or school holidays.
Regarding the master plan for the development of tourism facilities in Sabah Parks areas, she said all nine park stations including six marine parks and three terrestrial parks, have their respective management and development plans.
On the calls to improve the community-based tourism (CoBT) infrastructure, she said through the 12th Malaysia Plan, funds under the rural tourism development programme had been allocated to build, upgrade, and refurbish infrastructure and facilities for rural tourism products.
Meanwhile, she said Sabah is beginning to see signs of recovery in the tourism sector this year after the Covid-19 pandemic.
“This is evident in the first two months of this year, with 532,227 tourist arrivals in Sabah with an estimated tourist expenditure of RM1.22 Billion.
“This data indicates a 45 per cent increase compared to 2023. With this increase, I am confident that the targeted tourist arrivals for this year will be achieved,” she said, adding that air travel remains a primary agenda of the Tourism Ministry as 95 per cent of tourist arrivals to the state are through air transport networks.
