Abdul Karim (centre) celebrates the STB office warming ceremony with other dignitaries after signing the plaque at the entrance of the new STB office.
KUCHING: The new home of Sarawak Tourism Board (STB) at Plaza Aurora, Jalan McDougall (formerly known as Kuching Plaza) here is an ideal location for a tourism office.
Being strategically located, it can serve as a one-stop tourism centre and the first touch point for tourists to get to know more about Sarawak besides housing tourism-related industries such as Grab and Sarawak Convention Bureau, said Minister of Tourism, Arts, Culture, Youth and Sports Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah.
“The location is ideal, being the one-stop centre for tourism-related industries all housed under one building, where they can collaborate very closely with one another, and it is good to see these agencies are together here.
“Hopefully, there will be industry players who would also set up their offices in this building. With the new premises, I hope that the management and staff of STB will continue to work hard for the state and STB. We are very proud of what you have done, and your commitment for the last few years, as you can see the fruit of your labour has made Sarawak tourism industry into what it is now,” he said at the warming ceremony for STB’s new office yesterday.
Meanwhile, STB acting chief executive officer Mary Wan, in her speech, said they were glad they now have a new office.
“This is where we spend most of our time, this is our nest, networking and discussions centre among our staff and the industry players. We welcome industry players to use our office, our doors are open, come and share your ideas with us,” she said.
The trendy contemporary design of the new STB office, built on a very open concept, allows free flow of networking and discussions among industry players.
STB’s first office was at Wisma Satok before it was moved to Bangunan Yayasan which the board called home for the last 16 years since 2002.
Now, centrally located along Jalan McDougall, it is surrounded by landmarks like the Sarawak State Museum, St Thomas’s Cathedral, adjacent to Merdeka Palace Hotel and a short walk from Carpenter Street and Padang Merdeka.
Among those present at the warming ceremony were Assistant Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture Datuk Lee Kim Shin; Assistant Minister of Youth and Sports Datuk Snowdan Lawan; permanent secretary to the Ministry of Tourism, Arts, Culture, Youth and Sports Hii Chang Kee and STB chairman Datuk Abd Wahab Aziz.