KUCHING: Sarawak Tourism Board (STB) has come up with two broad strategies to woo more people from Peninsular Malaysia to visit the state.
Its chief executive officer Dato Rashid Khan said the initiatives were necessary as the peninsula represented a very important market for the state.
“In the first quarter of this year, West Malaysian arrivals stand at 25.7 per cent and Sarawak has the opportunity to provide them with new tourism perspectives,” he said at the Malaysia Travel Fair (MATTA Fair) Sarawak and Selangor dinner on Thursday.
Rashid said the first strategy focussed on the travel trade, and this is where travel agents play a big role in the demand side.
“The other strategy calls for greater understanding of tourists’ needs so that attractive packages could be designed for them.”
Rashid said eyes were on trade partners because they know their market well.
To create greater demand, STB would continue to bring in journalists and travel writers to write about their experiences and, hopefully, these would entice their readers to fly this way.
He added that Malindo Air had made things a lot easier as their flights to Sibu and Miri from Kuala Lumpur had removed accessibility issues for tourists from the peninsula. Rashid also urged Matta Selangor delegates to help promote Sarawak to the expatriate community as well.
“The expat community is a very strong market. We will help you in the marketing part and to actually package and promote it.”