STB promoting Sabah to Hungarians
BUDAPEST: Ambassador of Malaysia to Hungary, Francisco Munis and his wife Patricia Linus Lojiu hosted a dinner for the Sabah Tourism Board’s Tourism Promotion Mission to Hungary led by Minister of Tourism, Culture and Environment Datuk Christina Liew at Rumah Malaysia Budapest here on Sunday.
“As a Sabahan, I am very proud to receive a delegation from Sabah, especially from the Sabah Tourism Board (STB).
“All the top guns are here - Minister Datuk Christina, Assistant Minister Datuk Joniston Bangkuai, Permanent Secretary Josie Lai Mei Sing, Chief Executive Officer of STB Julinus Jeffery Jimit, and
Chairman of Sri Pelancongan Sabah Ken Pan Ying On,” said Munis who hails from Papar.
The ambassador said it is the right thing for the STB to come and talk to the Association of Hungarian Travel Agencies (Outbound Travel).
“We have 31 local travel agents here. That is a very big number in this place. These are the people who will go out there and ‘sell’ Sabah’s tourism products,” Munis said, adding that STB’s product presentation will be an eye-opener for Hungary’s travel agents.
Over dinner, Liew and Munis discussed the possibility of collaboration between the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Environment (through STB) and the Hungarian Tourism Agency in the areas of cultural exchange, rural tourism and sports tourism.
“We are looking at some form of collaborative understanding for the shared objective of promoting Sabah in Hungary,” they said.
The minister concurred with the ambassador on the need to forge collaboration between the Federation of Rural Tourism Association Sabah (FeRTAS) and National Federation of Rural Tourism, Budapest.
Liew expressed optimism that STB’s Tourism Promotion Mission to Hungary will bear fruit in luring more Hungarians to Sabah.