Gordon Seet (left) with members of the Media Liaison Committee.
KOTA KINABALU: The hotel industry in Sabah and Labuan is growing at a sustainable rate, with an estimated over 10 new hotels opening from now until 2021 that will contribute to an additional 3,815 rooms.
As of March 2019, the overall occupancy in Sabah was 64.4% while Kota Kinabalu registered a 74.4% occupancy. The top five international visitors came from China (including Hong Kong and Macau), South Korea, Brunei, Taiwan and UK.
Gordon Seet, chairman of Malaysian Association of Hotels – Sabah & Labuan Chapter, disclosed this during a networking dinner the chapter organised for members of the local media at Marriott Hotel Kota Kinabalu yesterday.
Gordon said hotels and resorts are still the preferred accommodation for the international visitors with 83% preference over the other types of accommodation.
He added the MAH Chapter is committed to work and be partners alongside with the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture, its government agencies such as Tourism Malaysia, Sabah Tourism Board as well as our partners in the tourism industry such as MATTA, SATTA, STA, SHA, MyBHA, STGA and many more, in making and continuing to have Sabah and Labuan as the preferred destination for the local, regional and international leisure and business travellers.
During the dinner, MAH for the Sabah & Labuan Chapter announced its new media liaison committee.
The event was represented by more than 50 members from the association and members from the media.
Gordon said the Malaysian Association of Hotels – Sabah & Labuan Chapter’s primarily goal is to act as a voice of the industry, working as one body to promote, protect, represent and advance the interest of its members whilst partnering in various activities which includes sustainable environment and CSR.
“Currently, our Chapter has sub-committees for Finance, Human Resources and Training, Security and Sports to enable all members to share information, to work together and to collaborate in common objectives. The main and primary objective of the Media Liaison Committee is to engage closely with our media partners, to be the main official contact point to share news about the hotel industry, our activities, to be your go-to resource contact and for conduct of media briefings when necessary,” he said.
The new media liaison committee will be led by Regina Sulit of Shangri-La’s Rasa Ria Resort & Spa as chairlady, Anita Chung of Promenade Hotel as vice chairlady and Clara Lim of Le Meridien Kota Kinabalu as secretary.
The new committee members will be supported by the public relations and communications network of all the MAH Chapter Hotels along with Ismail Martin Kong, general manager of Sabah Tea Resort Ranau as the committee’s advisor.
The Chapter has at present 92 member hotels in Sabah and Labuan that directly provides full time employment to at least 16,000 workers.