Pang (second right) presenting a prize to one of the contest winners during the Borneo International Orchid Show 2014 while Tengku (right) and Yeo (second left) look on.
KOTA KINABALU: Sabah which is promoting eco-tourism, should have more plants and nature surrounding its airport which acts as a gate to the state, said Assistant Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Pang Yuk Ming.
“We (Sabah) claim ourselves to be the eco-tourism centre of the world, yet, our airport is very ‘cold’,” Pang said as he pointed out that there are not much living plants in the airport.
He said unlike the Singapore airport which brings nature into its surrounding, the Kota Kinabalu International Airport is beautiful but it has not much to show.
Pang suggested that Malaysia Airports Berhad (MAB) set up a mini orchid garden within the premises as its corporate social responsibility programme to promote Sabah as a tourism destination for orchid lovers worldwide.
“The MAB, being a government-linked company, should work with the Borneo Orchid Society Sabah (BOS) and help the government to promote Sabah orchids as they have huge potential to be a major attraction among the tourists,” he said during the opening ceremony of Borneo International Orchid Show 2014 in the Kota Kinabalu Community Centre here yesterday.
On the Borneo International Orchid Show 2014 jointly organised by the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Environment, Tourism Malaysia, Sabah Tourism Board and Kota Kinabalu City Hall, Pang said that Sabah had yet to start exploiting the wonders and the potential of orchids in the state.
“To date, not much has been done to use orchids as a tourist attraction.
“I will speak to the relevant department to work with the BOS as well as the agriculture ministry on how to expand and explore the idea of making orchids as a centre of attraction at the international level,” said Pang.
He also said that he had full confidence that the orchid show which was organised on a small scale, would grow into one of the main exhibitions in the Sabah tourism calendar events in a few years.
Previously, the orchid show was held once in every two or three years.
Pang announced yesterday that the Borneo International Orchid Show 2014 will be held annually, beginning this year.
Meanwhile, BOS advisor Anthony Lamb revealed that the island of Borneo is in the top 15 hotspots for biodiversity in the world and Mount Kinabalu area with nearly 870 orchid species fall into an area of 120 square kilometers which has one of the highest plant diversity per unit area in the world.
Lamb who is also the botanical advisor for Sepilok Forestry Research Centre, said that in the past ten years, a hundred new species and records of species have been added to the orchid flora of Borneo.
“It now has nearly 1,700 species, and out of the sum, 1,300 species are found in Sabah and 66% (870 species) are found within the Mount Kinabalu area.
“The orchidaccae (orchids) is the largest family of flowering plants in the world with roughly 25,000 named species, and is also the largest family of flowering plants in Borneo and Sabah,” he revealed.
Lamb also said that Borneo has many iconic species of orchids such as the paphiopedilum rothschildarium which is the state orchid of Sabah, and the city flower of Kota Kinabalu: the phalaenopsis amabilis orchid .
The Borneo International Orchid Show 2014 was also attended by the BOS president Datuk Seri Tengku Zainal Adlin who is also the chairman of Sabah Parks, City Hall director general Datuk Yeo Boon Hai and BOS vice president cum organising chairman Jerry Ong.