Sarawak targets 5 million visitors this year
Sarawak can stand with the “big boys” in the region despite being a late starter in the tourism industry, says Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg.
KUALA LUMPUR: Sarawak can stand with the “big boys” in the region despite being a late starter in the tourism industry, says Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg.
Speaking at the World Tourism Conference ( WTC) welcoming dinner here hosted by Sarawak for over 1,000 delegates from all over the globe, he added that Sarawak has set ambitious targets in the tourism industry and is confident its ministry could achieve them.
“This year, we have set high targets of 5 million visitor arrivals, which will be strictly based on the International Satellite Accounting figures. Last year, we welcomed 4,430,921 visitors which generated RM7.95 billion in the state’s economy.
“Tourism has been identified as an important sector for Sarawak’s economy, and we are transforming tourism through the digital economy as well through means such as using the latest AI (artificial inteligence) and promoting tourism digitally,” said Abang Johari.
He said because of the nature of Sarawak’s tourism setting, product portfolios and fragile ecosystem, it was only logical for the state to pursue responsible tourism.
“Responsible tourism is all about making tourism better places for people to live in and a better place for people to visit. It focuses on what people, businesses and governments do to maximise the positive economic, social and environmental impacts of tourism.
“It is about identifying issues locally and addressing it transparently. Thus, we see responsible tourism as a responsibility for us to make our tourism sustainable.”
Meanwhile, Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah in his speech earlier said that the Visit Sarawak Campaign would be an ongoing event for Sarawak.
“It serves as our viable mouthpiece in the promotion of our tourism efforts to the world and ever since we launched the campaign last year, we have had many events and activities, practically an event going on every month. We have had music festivals, conferences and health tourism is picking up as well,” he mentioned.
Also present were Malaysian Minister of Tourism Mohammadin Ketapi, Minister of Transport Datuk Lee Kim Shin, Sarawak Tourism Board chief executive officer Sharzede Datu Salleh Askor and Sarawak Tourism Board chairman Datuk Abdul Wahab Aziz.
The WTC, which is in its fifth edition this year, continues to look at further enhancing sustainability of the tourism business and widening its horizon to look beyond tourism such as consolidating health, education, transportation and entertainment into the spectrum.
Key topics that were discussed at WTC included the ‘Future of Tourism - New Sources of Growth’, ‘Smart Tourism – Great Expectations’, ‘Sharing Economy - A New Reality’ and ‘Unique Tourism - Success Stories’.
WTC, which is held from Aug 26 to Aug 28, is organised by the Malaysian Tourism, Arts and Culture Ministry (MOTAC) and the World Tourism Organisation (UNTWO).