KUCHING: Domestic tourism will be stepped up with the launch of various Sia Sitok Sarawak packages next month.
Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Arts Minister Datuk Seri Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah said that Sia Sitok Sarawak 3.0 was expected to be launched on March 1, offering 88 tour packages covering southern, central and northern regions, of which 25 were new tour packages.
“And the Sia Sitok Accommodation 2.0 (a subsidy programme for hotels) will be launched on March 1 targeting 85 hotels,” he said when chairing the the Sarawak Tourism Steering Committee Meeting (STSC) 2022 at Pullman on Tuesday.
He said these were among the key focus initiatives identified by the ministry for this year while awaiting tourism activities to restart when the international borders reopened.
Among others, he said, the ministry was looking at federal-state negotiations on the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) for tourism-related licensing and regulatory measures.
“Another important long-term plan is the Third Sarawak Tourism Master Plan 2021-2035 which is expected to be launched in March as well.
“This is timely to support the Post COVID-19 Development Strategy (PCDS) 2030 action plans for the tourism sector to spur both immediate and long-term growth recovery from the impact of COVID-19 and to bring new business models and strategies for both the demand and supply side of the tourism industry,” he said.
Apart from that, he said it was to establish the Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) by air and land with Singapore, Brunei and Indonesia.
“The state government has engaged with the Ministry of Transport (MoT) to establish VTL between Singapore and Kuching.
“And my ministry has engaged closely with the Sarawak Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) on our border opening which is in line with the latest development in the second quarter of 2022.
“Besides VTL with Singapore, Malaysia is also discussing quarantine-free travel with Brunei, Indonesia and Thailand as announced recently by our Prime Minister,” he said.
The minister hoped that all the policies, directions and strategies would not only help the tourism industry players but also benefit the local communities.
“The local communities can participate in community-based tourism such as homestay, local hosts, craft- and souvenirs-making activities to reap the benefits from tourism and increase their household income.
“We hope that we can continue to work together as a cohesive industry and I believe that the strategies we have planned are achievable. By staying together, we can do much more,” he said.
Abdul Karim also announced that his ministry would continue to provide the annual grant of RM100,000 to the Sarawak Tourism Federation (STF) and the Divisional Tourism Task Group (DTTG) annual grant of RM10,000 for each division to further promote tourism.
“Therefore, I would like to urge more active involvement and closer linkages of the government agencies and tourism industry players to further strengthen our roles.
“I hope that through our collaboration with industry players, our tourism industry continues to prosper this year by bringing in more visitors, generating more income and creating more employment for our local communities,” he said.
Earlier, the event also witnessed the launch of Sarawak’s Tourism Quick Fact Book 2021 which is a reference book on the various tourism sectors.
