STB ramps up tourism promotion with Dutch operators

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Norhalilah (left) with Sharzede at her office.

KUCHING: Sarawak Tourism Board (STB) is set to ramp up its tourism promotion in the Netherlands with at least three Dutch operators who expressed interests in marketing collaboration.

“It’s timely as we are now promoting aggressively our Visit Sarawak Campaign,” said STB chief executive officer Sharzede Datu Salleh Askor, in a media release following a destination briefing session which was attended by 15 Dutch operators and media partners in Amsterdam recently.

She said the board was glad to offer concrete proposals such as Fox Verre Reizen, Pangea Travel and Sawadee Reizen to the operators.

She added that these agents “are ready to go big time in Sarawak.”

“What interests them are destinations that feature responsible tourism which Sarawak has in keeping to its theme as the destination that offers culture, adventure, nature, food and festival.”

Sharzede admitted that “Sarawak has lost its ‘visibility’ in the Dutch market in the past years but we are determined to move in and partner these agents leveraging on the Visit Sarawak Campaign.”

“Yes, the arrival numbers were down, especially after the airline tragedy of 2014 when we lost the direct flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur and that had affected the business of the Dutch operators,” she pointed out.

After the meeting, she expressed confidence that they will make inroads with their proposal to partner Dutch operators in promotional effort in the Netherlands.

“What excites our Dutch partners are the new product experiences that we now have, including the central region and also the newly rejuvenated products like the Old Kuching Heritage Trail.

“The Dutch have their ‘Kanaal’ and we too have canals in Mukah and these product similarities especially in the central region have aroused the interest of our Dutch partners, giving us an opportunity to connect closely with them.

“What we do now is ensure that these operators are shown and are able to experience the new products first hand, with familiarisation trips organised by the board partnering with local agents,” she enthused.

Sharzede, who was joined by Rosni Mamat, First Secretary to the Embassy of Malaysia at The Hague, expressed high hopes in revitalising the Dutch-speaking markets, acknowledging that the destination product compatibility would take the Sarawak tourism industry to greater heights.

From the series of engagements with the Dutch operators, she believed that Dutch tourists look for experiential tourism and chose destinations that subscribed to the principles of responsible tourism. As such Sarawak can leverage on these standards and values to position itself among the favoured destinations in the region.

Calling on the local industry partners to be industrious in churning out more tourism products and packages to remain competitive and remain relevant, Sharzede opined that the long haul market of the Benelux will continue to be the main supplier of tourists in the coming years.

Meanwhile, both product managers from Fox Verre Reizen and Sawadee Reizen had also expressed their interests on a familiarisation trip to Sarawak to have a first-hand experience of the destination. Meanwhile, the product manager of Pangea Travel had indicated his intention to include the central region as a new product in their promotional catalogue.

STB is on a week-long tourism promotion mission in Finland and the Netherlands to attend the MATKA (the largest travel industry event in Northern Europe) Travel Fair in Helsinki and conducted destination briefing and partners’ engagement session in Amsterdam with local Sarawak partners.

The mission was supported by Tourism Malaysia’s office at The Hague.

While in Helsinki on Tuesday, the STB delegation were guests at the office of the Malaysian Embassy’s First Secretary Norhalilah Abdul Jalil.