THE popularity of the Sia Sitok Sarawak tourism packages has prompted the Ministry of Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Arts to maintain the programme.
Minister Datuk Seri Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah said the ‘Global Sia Sitok Vacations’ campaign beginning May 1 will end on July 16 this year.
“The collaboration between the Sarawak Tourism Board (STB) and Malaysia Association of Hoteliers offers up to 144 packages and gives 9,000 non-Sarawakian and foreigners the opportunity to visit Sarawak,” he said in his ministerial winding up speech in the State Legislative Assembly today.
The total recorded sales from the campaign in 2022 are RM6.5 million with 800 tour packages sold, benefitting 6,406 visitors with 15,277 room nights booked through the ‘Sia Sitok Sarawak Accommodation’ campaign.
The Sia Sitok Sarawak campaigns were introduced by STB to promote domestic intra-state travel.
Meanwhile, Abdul Karim said Sarawak received 1.30 million visitor arrivals as of April this year.
The figure shows an increase of 315.41 per cent compared to the same period in 2022 and generated RM3.27 billion in tourism income.
“The ministry is optimistic of achieving more than 3 million visitor arrivals in 2023 and is expecting to generate RM7.25 billion in tourism receipts,” he added.
