GEORGE TOWN – After an 80.39% decrease in visitors to Sarawak in 2021, tourism players in the Land of the Hornbills are counting on Penang to contribute to their aim of getting 1.2 million visitors this year.
Tourism Malaysia’s Senior Director of Domestic and Event Iskandar Mirza Moh Yusof explained that since the last quarter of 2021 (4Q21), domestic travellers in Peninsula Malaysia had already started moving from state to state, but it is not the same for those in Sabah and Sarawak.
“Visitors arrivals entering the state from January to December 2022, showed a decrease of 80.39% with a record of 235,245.
“It is only from March this year that you can see better development in terms of domestic arrivals coming in.
“Right now, we are focused on getting movement of domestic tourists because it will take some time for international tourists to come in again,” he said during the here today.
Since the opening of the borders, international tourists from the United Kingdom (UK) and the Netherlands have started trickling into the state.
Arrivals have also increased significantly with direct flights from Penang, Kota Baru and Kuala Lumpur.
According to the Immigration Department of Malaysia Sarawak, there has been a sharp increase in visitor arrivals when compared to arrivals in 1Q21 and in 1Q22.
International arrivals have leapt by 71.51% (10,563) from January to March this year when compared to the same period in 2021 which stood at 6,159 arrivals.
Meanwhile, domestic arrivals have skyrocketed with a 712.3% increase to 219,115 in the same period when compared to 29,976 last year.
“We are doing this to not only encourage Penang people to go to Sarawak but vice versa as well because we need tourism to go both ways before it can work.
“Malaysians have already built a culture of travelling, it is just providing a platform so that they can easily traverse, and that is what we are doing here, providing them with a platform for them to enjoy experiential tourism,” Iskandar said.
Association of Sarawak Inbound Agencies (Asia) chairman, Philip Yong, said Sarawak tourism players are looking to meet the demands of the current tourism trend which is to go beyond big cities.
“We are planning trips that start from Kuching towards the outskirts of Sarawak as many tourists, especially after the pandemic, are looking to travel to places that are less crowded with a focus on eco-tourism and locations with Instagrammable sites.
“We have it all in Sarawak,” he said.
Jom Ke Sarawak roadshow is a joint collaboration initiated by Tourism Malaysia and the Association of Sarawak Inbound Agencies (ASIA) to reignite the interest of potential domestic tourists namely in the MICE market by increasing tourism in Sarawak after the recent Covid-19 pandemic.
Sarawak is a destination that offers attractions that include a myriad of local delicacies, nature and cultural offerings and events.
In November 2021, Kuching was listed under UNESCO as a ‘Creative City of Gastronomy’.
They will also be resuming Sarawak’s Rainforest World Music Festival (RWMF) this year on-site as it will mark its 25th anniversary this year.
A total of 11 organisations comprising tour operators, government agencies and hotels from Sarawak were present to offer attractive packages to tourism players in Penang. – The Vibes, May 27, 2021.
