Thursday, 19 June 2014

Sarawak hopes to attract half-a-million tourists in 2014

The Sarawak Tourism Board (STB) is hoping that the number of tourists from Pontianak, Indonesia to the state to reach 500,000 people by this year.

STB’s marketing director, Benedict Jimbau,stated that the target was achievable based on statistics as on March, when a total of 119,442 visitors from the city had visited Sarawak.

“Last year, Sarawak had 464,661 visitors from the city, an increase compared with the 417,072 visitors recorded in 2012. Based on the improvement shown year-on-year, the Board is confident the target of 500,000 visitors can be reached,” he said at the 1Malaysia Megasale 2014 programme, here Saturday.

A total of 18 booths have been opened by the participants of the programme comprising hotel and resort operators, private medical centres, travel agencies, public and private institutes of higher education from around Kuching, MASwings Airline, Tourism Malaysia and the Sarawak Tourism Board at Ayani Megamall, the largest shopping centre in West Kalimantan.

Some programmes such as the Rainforest World Music Festival to be held from June 20-22, the Sarawak Regatta boat competition from Sept 14 to 16 will also be attracting visitors.

“Lodging facilities in the state capital, Kuching, has also been addressed for the convenience of visitors. Recently the Hotel Imperial, which has 325 rooms and is located near the Boulevard shopping centre, was inaugurated by the Chief Minister on June 9. What’s more, it is located near the Kuching Central Bus Terminal and has daily bus trips to and from Pontianak,” Jimbau added.

Meanwile, Shopping Malaysia Secretariat head Ramzi Abu Yazid said 25.7 million tourists visited Malaysia last year and 74.3 per cent of the total were tourists from Asean countries.

 According to statistics, the number of tourists from Indonesia at present is 2.2 million or 9.9 per cent of the total number of tourists coming to Malaysia this year.

No comments:

Post a Comment