SANDAKAN: Tourism industry players are urged to continue intensifying efforts to promote the Sandakan town centre as a must-visit location in their respective tourism packages.
Sandakan Member of Parliament Vivian Wong said Sandakan is a town known for its ecotourism products.
“However, tourists who come are only concentrated on the Sepilok and Kinabatangan areas apart from Selingan Island. Sandakan’s town centre, which holds Sabah’s historic heritage treasures, is less prominent in tourism packages,” she said.
Vivian said the Sandakan town centre is also no less unique, especially in heritage and cultural tourism.
“Among the things that can be promoted are the Sandakan Heritage Trail, Creative Lane, Sandakan Wall, Sandakan Public Market, Bukit Trig or bringing tourists to taste culinary heritage such as Tat UFO, Roti Kahwin and seafood which have often been icons of Sandakan since time immemorial,” she said when closing the Sandakan Art Bazaar Festival 2024 at the Piazza, Harbour Square and Sandakan Creative Lane on Sunday night.
Vivian said the festival shows the efforts of all parties in promoting art and culture as significant tourism products in Sandakan.
Various events were held throughout the two-day programme, including exhibitions and sales by various local associations and communities.
The Sandakan Art Bazaar Festival 2024 also featured busker performances, a classic motorcycle exhibition, a traditional sape performance, poetry, graffiti walls, patriotic stars and so on.
Vivian was also confident and optimistic that the Sabah Tourism Board always ensures that Sandakan is not excluded from the agenda of promoting tourism in Sabah as a whole.
She hopes that more direct flights to Sandakan will be available in the future because the district is ready in various ways to receive the presence of tourists.
She called for the art bazaar on the Creative Lane to be continued daily to generate the local economy in addition to being an added value to tourist attractions in the Sandakan town centre
