‘Sarawak will achieve target of five million tourists this year’
KUCHING: Sarawak will be able to achieve its target of five million tourist arrivals this year, says Datuk Mohamaddin Ketapi.
The Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister said Sarawak had a lot of tourism products to offer to visitors, as well as a wide range of events to attract foreign tourists.
“The tourism industry in the state has made tremendous achievements, including the Visit Sarawak campaign, which started this year.
“Sarawak is well known overseas, so visitors will continue to come,” he said after opening an engagement session with local industry players in conjunction with Visit Malaysia 2020 soft launching here yesterday.
Mohamaddin said the session was a platform for building close relationships and smart partnerships between industry players and government agencies while contributing to the growth of the tourism sector in the state.
“Among one of the main objectives is to improve the tourism industry in Sarawak.
“It will also look into the most effective promotion efforts to increase tourist arrivals from both domestic and international markets.
“It is timely to leverage on this opportunity as we are stepping up promotions ahead of Visit Malaysia 2020,” he said.
The minister said the government hoped to welcome 30 million tourists from all over the world to experience the beauty and wonders of Malaysia next year.
Mohamaddin also told the participants that the government had launched a RM5mil special tourism promotion fund known as Gamelan Malaysia, under which matching grants would be offered to eligible industry players.
He said the fund aimed to assist industry players in their international tourism promotion and marketing programmes to increase international tourist arrivals while boosting domestic tourism.
“The ceiling of the matching grant is RM200,000. Industry players can apply online through Tourism Malaysia,” he said.
Those eligible include certified tourism associations, tourism agencies registered with the ministry and clubs promoting special interests such as golf vacations and scuba diving packages.