KOTA KINABALU: Sabah targets four million tourist arrivals next year, an increase of four per cent over the target of 3.8 million set for 2018.
Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Christina Liew is confident that the target for 2019 can be met based on the increase in tourist arrivals in Sabah over the last four years, besides the promotional and marketing efforts of the Sabah Tourism Board (STB) across the world including China and Europe.
“The target of four million is also among our KPI (Key Performance Indicators) and we believe we can achieve it. Hence, we will work harder to promote Sabah to the European market to draw more tourists from there,” said Liew, who is also state Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister, at a news conference yesterday.
She said Sabah’s big tourism sector was not just focused on promoting exciting destinations like resort islands and mountains, but also the rich culture and traditions of its multi-ethnic people.
Liew noted that the target of 500,000 tourist arrivals in Sabah from China this year had been achieved by October, which was earlier than the time set.
She said the increase in tourist arrivals had contributed about RM7.829 billion to the state’s economy in 2017 and spurred the emergence of new hotels, especially in the state capital, indicating investors’ confidence in what Sabah could offer.
Besides that, she added, there were also new tourism products emerging outside Kota Kinabalu and more direct flights available from Kota Kinabalu International Airport including 114 weekly flights from China alone.
On a related development, Liew said her ministry would collaborate with Kota Kinabalu City Hall in putting up signboards in Mandarin at locations favoured by tourists from China.
Earlier, Liew congratulated STB for receiving the Brand Laureate Industry Champion Brand Icon Leadership Award 2018 in the Destination Branding category from the Asia Pacific Brands Foundation on Nov 26. – Bernama
