Kota Kinabalu: The implementation of a Centralised Counter for water sports (sea sports) activities at Taman Tunku Abdul Rahman (TTAR) here is to ensure all boats operating such sports have a valid landing permit, safety of participating tourists and systematic management of tourists in islands and jetties, said State Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Christina Liew.
It is also to combat the “touts” of water sports activity packages, she said, adding this is so that tourists are more comfortable doing leisure activities and their safety is guaranteed when using services registered with the Sabah Parks.
The issue of the implementation of the Centralised Counter for water sports activities went viral in the mass and social media recently.
Liew said the Sabah Parks management is in the process of improving the management system of tourists in the Parks area who participate in water sports activities that are conducted outside the boundaries of TTAR, such as parasailing, banana boat and so on.
She said the issues faced by the management related to water sports activities are:
- The “tout” problem. The sale of water sports activity packages by individuals (freelance)/companies or known as “touts” openly/closed in the islands of TTAR. Activity (soliciting) is an offence under the Taman Tunku Abdul Rahman Regulations. The “touts” usually enter the island to find customers to sell packages to get commissions from companies;
- Irregular/congested pier use. The boat waiting area at the park jetty (for example the Manukan Island jetty) becomes crowded when each “tout” gathers with customers in an unsystematic manner and in addition every water sports operator company races to dock the boat to pick up customers;
- Difficulty monitoring boat operators (mainly involving insurance and tourist safety). The boats used to take tourists for these water sports activities cannot be fully monitored whether they have a valid landing permit or not (expired);
- Tourist injuries. When tourists are injured as a result of following these activities, they are sent to the Parks’ lifeguard for initial treatment. This responsibility is left to the Parks to manage these tourists;
- Activities during bad weather. There is no control on the part of the Parks to stop the boat of this operating company and the safety of tourists taken from the Parks area is not maintained.
“The Sabah Parks Board of Trustees has approved two companies acting as agents to help TTS deal with the issues by operating Centralised Counters in TTAR, namely on Manukan Island, Mamutik Island, Sapi Island and Padang Point (Gaya Island).
“Among the functions and responsibilities of this Centralised Counter is to receive and register existing or new water sports operator companies for monitoring and control records of Sabah Parks.
“The Counter must ensure that each registered water sports operator company has a landing permit validly issued by TTS, prepare and sell tickets for water sports activities to interested customers/tourists, give safety briefings and coordinate the boat rotation system of the water sports operator company with customers at the TTS Jetty.
“The Parks management has issued a notice of notification of the implementation of the Centralised Counter on May 1, 2024, as an early warning to water sports operators.
This is to enable registration by the water sports operator company to be made and further explanation and discussion on the purpose of the Counter can be made in an orderly manner such as the implementation of the ticket system, queue system, safety SOP and a few more,” said Liew in a statement, Friday.
She said at this point, the implementation of the Counter is still in the process of registering the company and then further explanation and discussions with water sports operators will be carried out in the near future and this also includes consultation and decisions regarding the collection of fees.
“At this time, there has been no ruling or instructions for payment collection and it is still at the discussion stage.”
