KOTA KINABALU: While Sabah may not be short of tourism products, accessibility to these areas seem to be the biggest challenge for the state.
Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun hoped for more allocation to improve infrastructure in Sabah in the coming national budget, which is expected to be tabled end of this month.
“The issue in Sabah is not because we do not have products, we have many tourism products. But it is about accessibility to these products.
“For instance Mount Trusmadi, which is the second highest mountain in Malaysia, has its own specialised beauties and slightly different from Mount Kinabalu. We should not neglect this fact.
“And I am sure there are a lot people who want to go there but the road condition needs to be improved. Let’s not forget that the top three mountains (in Malaysia) are in Sabah,” he told reporters when met at the Petronas Raya open house here yesterday.
He added that there are talks to turn the whole coast between Tuaran to Kota Belud to something like the Gold Coast in Australia.
“This can happen provided we have the infrastructure, and I believe that is actually the main contention of many investors. We just need to improve the accessibility to all these beautiful places to further improve our tourism sector,” said Masidi.