BBHA to emulate Siem Reap in promoting Bung Bratak as tourism site — Minos
KUCHING: Sarawak can emulate the tourism success story of Siem Reap, Cambodia by promoting local history and culture to boost tourist arrivals.
Bung Bratak Heritage Association ( BBHA) chairman Dato Peter Minos said the government must help with the restoration and maintenance of historical sites if it were to go all out to achieve this.
He also said he totally agreed with Minister of Tourism, Arts, Culture, Youth and Sports Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah that Sarawak must fully use local history and culture for the state’s budding tourism industry.
“History sells because people simply love to hear and see historical sites, the older the better, as we know of the Egyptian pyramids, Great Wall of China, Acropolis in Athens, the Colosseum in Rome, the Aztecs pyramids, Taj Mahal, Borobodur and so on.
“The Siem Reap story is a proven success. Why not do some emulation. What have we got to lose,” he said yesterday.
He said following a recent visit to Siem Reap that this small Cambodian city of about 300,000 population is being visited by over 3 million foreign tourists each year, by selling and promoting the almost 1,000-year old famous ancient temple of Angkor Wat.
“And because of this, almost all the progress and prosperity of Siem Reap - the hotels, restaurants and cafes, shops and markets, buses and taxis, employment opportunities and so - are almost totally dependent on tourism.”
He noted that the Cambodian government extended the startup and seed money to the tourism sector, apart from cooperating fully with Unesco and many other concerned NGOs.
“Just imagine that from 1975 to 1979, Siem Reap and the rest of Cambodia were in total ruins during the Khmer Rouge regime, and yet they managed to come up to where they are today,” he said.
Minos also said he intended to use the lessons learnt from Siem Reap when promoting the Bung Bratak Heritage Centre once it is completed by end of December.
The Bung Bratak Heritage Centre, costing RM8 million and funded by the federal Ministry of Tourism and Culture, is now being built on the 1,000-foot high Bung Bratak or Mount Bratak, considered an ancient Bidayuh settlement.
“Bung Bratak has history and we intend to utilise it to promote it to local and foreign tourists when the centre is completed. And we will revive the Bung Bratak Day on May 1 next year,” said Minos.