Lee (fourth left), Engku Puteri Suraya (third left), Sharzede (fourth right) and Edzuar (third right) join the performers on stage for a special photo-call after the unveiling.
Photo shows the just-unveiled VSC logo.
SINGAPORE: Sarawak Tourism Board (STB) has unveiled the Visit Sarawak Campaign (VSC) logo, ahead of its official launch scheduled for this December.
The unveiling ceremony of the campaign’s official anchor emblem took place during an industry event here on Thursday night – the first time that this had ever been done outside Malaysia.
According to Assistant Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture Datuk Lee Kim Shin, the VSC is envisioned to place Sarawak as one of the preferred tourism destinations in Southeast Asia.
“The tagline ‘More to Discover’ underscores STB’s strategy to position Sarawak as a plethora of culture-adventure-nature-food- festivals (CANFF) offerings that are not found anywhere else in the world — ready to be discovered.
“This year from January to July, we recorded a 16.5 per cent increase in (tourists) arrivals from 22,480 (in previous corresponding seven-month period) to 26,202. We are confident that we will surpass the 42,000 arrivals we received last year, by a healthy margin. It is a good indicator of gaining interest from travellers from the Singapore market, attributable to the increased flights from Singapore via Scoot, Malaysia Airlines and AirAsia, which are making daily trips.
“There’s a direct Singapore-Kuching flight via AirAsia daily, and MAS. This gives us more than 600 seats made available every day from Singapore to Kuching. This new world for you to discover is a mere 90 minutes away from Singapore by flight,” he said.
Lee noted the three-day, two-night Kuching getaway was one of the packages favoured by Singaporeans, with Central Sarawak being a rising attraction.
Stretching from Sibu, on the lower Batang Rajang, upriver to Kapit and Bintulu and north-eastward along the coast to Bintulu and Miri, Central Sarawak offers some great river journeys, national parks and modern urban conveniences. The Sibu Heritage Centre, the Niah National Park, the Tua Pek Kong temple and Fort Sylvia are some key attractions within this region in Sarawak.
“We will be looking into intensifying the efforts to increase arrivals from Singapore. In the coming year, Singaporeans can look forward to more new packages that will provide competitively-priced offerings focusing on CANFF. We will also look forward to exploring how we can partner with Singapore, for it to become our ‘twin city’.”
Singapore will be a central hub for STB’s marketing strategies as the Sarawak government would be setting up an office in Singapore next year for agriculture, business and tourism development, added Lee.
“Through the two-year VSC, we would like to welcome everyone in Singapore to discover Sarawak – the state that we call home. We look very much forward to working with the partners here in Singapore – in particular, the travel agencies, and also the airlines – to help us reach our potential,” said Lee, who represented Minister of Tourism, Arts, Culture, Youth and Sports Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah at the event here.
The VSC logo will be launched in London, UK and in Shenzhen, China this November.
The Thursday night gala also hosted a performance by award-winning Sarawakian songstress Dayang Nurfaizah and renowned world music band Tuku Kame.
Counsellor Engku Puteri Suraya Engku Mohd Afandi who represented the High Commission of Malaysia in Singapore, Tourism Malaysia Singapore director Edzuar Zar, and STB chief executive officer Sharzede Datu Salleh Askor were also present.