Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah
KUCHING: Sarawak prefers quality tourists to quantity, says Minister of Tourism, Arts, Culture, Youth and Sports Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah.
He described quality tourists as those who spend at least four days in the state. He said unlike before, Sarawak has started to see increasing number of quality arrivals, who spent four to five days in the state.
“Before, we had one million visitors from Brunei coming to Sarawak every year, but many of them were more or less weekend visitors, who came to Miri for a day trip.
“Today we are seeing big number of arrivals from China and Singapore, which have increased progressively.
“These arrivals reflect quality tourists because when they come, they wouldn’t be staying one day; they are around for four to five days, which eventually benefits the local hotels, restaurants and industry players,” he told a press conference here yesterday.
Abdul Karim said Sarawak is looking forward to welcome quality tourists not only from mainland China and Singapore, but also from Europe, India, Middle East and Australia.
He expressed his optimism in tourism growth as 2019 will be an exciting year for tourism in Sarawak.
He noted that many international events will be held next year with something going on in Sarawak every month.
Abdul Karim also said Royal Brunei Airline (RBA) will make its inaugural flight from Brunei to Kuching on Dec 28. He said for a start, RBA will make two flights a week before increasing the frequency to four flights a week in February.
“RBA is giving very good packages now. When we look at the packages, we are not just looking at the flight from Kuching to Bandar Seri Begawan, but we are looking at the routes that depart from Bandar Seri Begawan.
“Bandar Seri Begawan will also be the transit for passengers before they proceed to Kuching,” he said.
Abdul Karim said there should be sufficient flights coming to Kuching to make the state’s target of five million arrivals achievable.
On the Visit Sarawak Campaign, Abdul Karim said the campaign had been carried out in KL, Singapore, London and China.