Tourists ‘enchanted, fascinated’ by BCF 2016

SIBU: ‘Enchanting and fascinating’ – that was the impression that the recently-ended Borneo Cultural Festival (BCF) left on tourists as they returned home with warm and colourful memories of the heartland of Borneo.

This was shared by tour operator Frankie Ting, who brought in visitors from Penang, England and Holland for the biggest cultural festival in Sarawak at Sibu Town Square held over 10 nights.

Its grand finale was on Saturday.

Ting said he had brought in a group of some 20 tourists from Penang, as well as some Dutch and English visitors who came in separate smaller groups.

“As Sarawak is less exposed in the tourism market and the locals are friendly and hospitable, the visitors are impressed and feel the novelty of their experience of Borneo. Almost everything about life here is fresh to them, including for the visitors from Penang.”

Ting said there were other tour agents who brought in more tourists, all of whom had nothing but praise for Sibu Municipal Council (SMC) and Sarawak Tourism Board (STB) which paved the way in opening up tourism as the council prepared for ‘Visit Sibu Year 2017’.

He said last year, under Datuk Andrew Wong who chaired the BCF working committee, SMC and STB had arranged a familiarisation tour for tour agents from outside the state, including those from Peninsular Malaysia and Vietnam.

“Some (of the) tourist arrivals this year were the fruit borne out of this effort last year. For the group from Penang, the tour agent there had organised his group after the familiarisation tour.”

Ting said this effort, initiated by Wong, was expected to ‘bear more fruits’. He disclosed that a tour agent in Vietnam had just called him to propose for the chartering of a flight to bring in tourists from his country.

Currently, they are now working out a win-win situation.

“As they are chartering a flight to Sibu for the festival here next year, I shall also use this flight to take our folk to Vietnam, so that the airline will not have to return with an empty flight after ferrying the Vietnamese tourists here. We hope this proposal will bring good news.”

Ting said he offered a four-day, three-night package for BCF visitors this year.

“I took them to a longhouse in Bawang Assan as well as other places of interest, and also to taste the local food.”

He said the tourists were extremely impressed by Sibu and its friendly people.

He said the Penang group included youths who brought their parents, with some visitors using the trip as a family holiday.

They were drawn to several attractions here, including the food such as ‘kampua’ noodles, ‘dian bian hu’ and ‘kompia’.

“Many locals complained that the food at BCF was more expensive but for the foreigners, they praised the food as being so cheap. They were delighted.”

Ting said it was understandable that the food served at the festival cost more, as many dishes were home-cooked and prepared with good quality ingredients.

As for the European tourists, he said they were fascinated by native food, such as those cooked in bamboos.

“Such cultural idea of food is totally new to them. I took them to the stalls to have a taste of ‘pansuh’ and ‘lemang’. To tease their curiosity, I asked the handlers to show how they opened the bamboo tubes containing the food and show them the glutinous rice wrapped in leaves. I let them experience our culture.”

Ting said after their visit to Sibu, some tourists went to Miri before proceeding to the Mulu Caves.

Ting said for the BCF to be a successful tourism product, he hoped that the local council could host more familiarisation trips for tour operators from outside the state, similar to the idea introduced by Wong last year in collaboration with STB.

“With the experience of the tour operators, they can return to sell BCF and Sibu better. I myself have been participating in such familiarisation tours to South Korea, Turkey, China, Vietnam and other countries over the years. This is a must-factor to sell tourism products.”

For ‘Visit Sibu Year 2017’, Ting said the community should continue to work with SMC to project Sibu as a town of warm friendship and culture, ‘amidst diverse ethnic beauty’.