Tourist arrival forecast to rise by 12 pct in Visit Sarawak Year 2014
We do not want sellers to raise the price when customers are well dressed or come in luxury cars. This is not right and unethical as it is equivalent to fleecing buyers. Balraj Singh, MDTCC Sibu branch chief
KUCHING: The state is expecting 12 per cent increase in tourist landing with the launching of Visit Sarawak Year 2014.
In the joint effort with Sarawak Tourism Board and Cats FM, the campaign will promote and highlight the various attractions the state has to offer to tourists, both domestic and foreign.
One of the campaign efforts is special bus advertisements carried by Bus Asia which plies the Pontianak-Brunei routes.
“Visitors can also plan their holidays from any part in the world via sarawakadventure.com which offers special MasWings airfare at RM30 if purchased via the website,” said Tourism and Housing Minister Datuk Amar Abang Johari Tun Openg at the campaign launch at Plaza Merdeka on Saturday night.
He said that as of October this year, tourist landing was recorded at 4 million and tourist spending at RM8.6 billion.
And by December, the figure is expected to increase to 4.1 to 4.2 million tourist landing.
To accommodate increase in tourist flow, AirAsia will be plying a new route, Miri-Manila on Dec 7.
Apart from that, the state will receive even more tourists by year 2020 with new attractions, Heritage Legacy from Museum to Petra Jaya will be completed, aside from a water theme park, Samariang Borneo Resort and Safari.
The Samariang Borneo Resort and Safari, a beach attraction is set to bring in more tourists from around the world, said Abang Johari.
As such, he advised tourism operators to play their role by providing good service, maintaining cleanliness of food courts and treating visitors well.
“Sarawakians should take this opportunity to show our guests the culture and harmony to those from outside Malaysia.
“Show them our smiles and friendliness and in turn, when they return home, they will have good tales to share with their friends and families and will encourage more tourists into the state,” Abang Johari added.
Among those present were Assistant Tourism Minister Datuk Gramong Juna, Tourism Ministry permanent secretary Datu Ik Pahon Joyik and Kristal Harta Sdn Bhd executive director Dato Hanifah Taib Alsree.