KUCHING: The Tourism Ministry has allocated RM46 million to develop the tourism industry in Sarawak under the Tenth Malaysia Plan.
MY PORTRAIT: Dawos (right) receives a portrait of himself from Amiruddin (left). Also seen are Rahsid (second right) and Mary. – Photo by Jonathan Bullet
Deputy Tourism Minister Datuk Dr James Dawos Mamit said it was to ensure Sarawak was among the top choice for both domestic and foreign tourists.
“Therefore, the ministry will not only focus on the effort to lure foreign tourists, but also conduct programmes such as the ‘Cuti Cuti 1Malaysia’ (CC1M) which can increase the domestic tourism profile,” he said.
Mambong MP Dawos was speaking at the CC1M travel fair in conjunction with the Sarawak Domestic Sales Mission at tHe Spring yesterday.
According to Dawos, a total of RM169.5 million had been allocated under the Ninth Malaysia plan with 99.7 per cent or RM169.052,899 from the total fund spent.
He added that in 2010 alone, the state had seen RM715,243 in profit from ‘homestay’ tourism, compared to RM656,998 in 2009 – an increase of 8.8 per cent.
Dawos said the programme held at Johor, Sabah and Terengganu involved 245 tourism and related agencies.
“Last year, a total of 3,493 tourism packages worth RM984,881 was sold to the public via the CC1M Travel fair.”
The CC1M in Kuching involves 70 tourism players with 20 from Sarawak, 10 Sabah and 40 West Malaysia.
Held from April 8 to 10, the event aims to create an integrated tourism package arena for clients to choose from, based on their needs. Also present were Tourism Malaysia deputy director Datuk Amirrudin Abu, Sarawak Tourism Bureau CEO Datuk Rahsid Khan, and Tourism and Heritage Ministryís chief secretary for Events, Industry Training and Heritage, Mary Wan Mering.