KUCHING: Datuk Seri Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah recently led 15 delegates to the United Nations of World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) headquarters in Madrid, Spain to expand Sarawak’s tourism nature.
The Minister of Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Arts said the purpose of the visit was to explore opportunities to collaborate with UNWTO ,mainly on responsible tourism initiatives, sustainable tourism policies and practices, tourism marketing intelligence, tourism data management, and capacity building for the tourism industry in Sarawak.
“This official visit has strengthened ties and partnership between the ministry and UNWTO in the long term and accelerated tourism recovery in Sarawak,” he said this in a statement today.
Abdul Karim said the official visit introduced Sarawak as a responsible tourism destination and a leading destination for eco-tourism and business events in Southeast Asia, which is in line with the Post-Covid-19 Development Strategy 2030 (PCDS 2030).
“In addition, the visit also touched on the importance of biodiversity conservation, intangible and tangible cultural heritage conservation, climate change and the blue and green economy,” he added.
During the visit, the Sarawak delegation was exposed to UNWTO’s expert areas and initiatives such as International Network of Sustainable Tourism Observatories (INSTO), One Planet initiatives (Global Tourism Plastics Initiative and the Glasgow Declaration on Climate Action in Tourism), Best Tourism Village and the World Tourism Barometer, as potential catalysers to support Sarawak in its journey towards sustainable development.
UNWTO will continue to participate in Sarawak’s homegrown event International Conference of Responsible Tourism and Hospitality (ICRTH) 2023 in Bagor, Indonesia as a joint collective effort to drive responsible tourism for sustainable development.
