SEMPORNA: Bukit Tengkorak Archeological Heritage Site should be given added value to make it an attractive tourism product to tourists.
Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ng Yen Yen said efforts should be undertaken to attract more tourists to visit the archeological site and museum costing RM4.2mil.
“This product has so much potential. Visitors who come here and explore places while waiting for transport to the resort islands,” she told reporters after climbing the 152 metre high archeological site recently.
Dr Ng suggested that a tourist guide with archeological expertise be staioned at Bukit Tengkorak to brief tourists on the archeological site.
This is necessary as without a specialist tourist guide, it is difficult to promote it as an atractive archeological tourism product.
Bukit Tengkorak has been identified as one of Southeast Asia’s largest pottery making site in the Neolithic period about 3,000 years ago.
Researchers from Universiti Sains Malaysia’s (USM) Center for Archaeological Research with collaboration of Sabah Museum Department had done scientific and systematic research at Bukit Tengkorak since 1994.
They found thousands of prehistoric pottery fragments and studies showed that the methods used are still being practised in Semporna to this day.
Bukit Tengkorak Archeological Heritage Museum building is expected to open to visitors next year.
Dr Ng congratulated the state government for such a fine archeological museum adding the bigger challenge is how to utilise its potential.
“The museum staff can visit other museums famous for heritage and archeological tourism like that in Philippines to learn from them,” she added. – Bernama