KUCHING: Sarawak is targetting 5.25 million tourist arrivals this year. Visitors to Sarawak in 2017 totalled 4,856,888, an increase of 4.2% over 4,661,100 in 2016.
Tourism revenue for 2017 totalled RM8.59 billion, compared to RM8.39 billion the previous year.
The average growth rate for visitor arrivals over the period from 2010 to 2017 was in the positive trend at 6.03% while average revenue growth rate for the same period was 4.64%.
“The top three markets for visitor arrivals in 2017 were from Brunei (1.73 million), Indonesia (513,442) and the Philippines (68,380),” disclosed Minister of Tourism, Arts, Culture, Youth and Sports, Datuk Abdul Karim Hamzah at a media conference after chairing the Sarawak Tourism Steering Committee Meeting at Pullman Hotel here on Tuesday.
Karim said Malaysia collected tourism tax amounting to RM39,975,634 from Sept 1 to Dec 31, 2017 while Sarawak collected RM879, 058. With the current arrangement of RM5 for every RM10 collected, the state will receive RM439,529.
As Sarawak gears up for the Visit Sarawak Year 2019, he said various activities were in the pipeline and the momentum will start from this year. With continuous efforts to enhance air connectivity, especially by having more direct flights to international destinations such as Singapore, Shenzen, Pontianak, and domestic destinations in the country, more visitors are expected to come to Sarawak.
“It is important for stakeholders to be aware of the areas that need improvement to ensure that tourism continues to be a growing contributor towards the State’s coffer.
“The Ministry is aware of the challenges that lie ahead and has set various targets and objectives.
“We are focusing on areas that need to improve like addressing the shortage of tour guides, facilitating liscensing of tour guides through collaboration and improving Mandarin proficiency amongst guides and frontliners, especially with the expected increase of tourists from China,” he explained.
According to Karim, presently there are only some 200 mandarin speaking guides with license and this has to be addressed.
A few new products that will enhance travelling experience to Sarawak are the 300m long iconic Darul Hana Bridge, the enhanced facilities at Kuching Waterfront with the soon to be completed Jejak Warisan near the Brooke Dockyard, the new walkway along Kampung Boyan to Fort Margherita, the opening of the New Astana Wing Hotel and the Borneo Semariang Resort Water Theme Park.
