STB reaches out with Sarawak Tourism Online Ecosystem

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KUCHING: Sarawak Tourism Board (STB) is proactively reaching out to tourism industry players through its Sarawak Tourism Online Ecosystem Fund programme.

In a statement yesterday, STB communications manager Gustino Basuan said the programme, which runs until Dec 31, still has 14 vacancies, and will be extended to hoteliers starting next year.

Gustino said tourism industry players who had registered with the federal Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture (Motac) can apply for the fund. He said STB is promoting ‘Safe Travels’ in light of the Covid-19 pandemic across the globe.

“The Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in economic recession and the tourism sector is no exception. We have reduced our targeted tourist arrivals to 1.4 million from the initial five million.

“Similarly, our focus has been shifted to domestic tourism,” he added.

Gustino said the Sarawak Travel app had been created in line with the Sarawak More to Discover project to digitalise the state’s tourism industry.

According to him, this is a collaboration among STB, the state Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture, Sarawak Multimedia Authority (SMA), and Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas).

He said programmes would be planned and implemented in a progressive manner in five modules involving Culture, Adventure, Nature, Food and Festival (CANFF), which had been launched by Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg.

Gustino said this would be completed by mid-2021 by using Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (AR) to facilitate the public in seeing tourist attractions in Sarawak from different angles.

STB marketing director Barbara Benjamin said the board is also promoting its ‘Sia Sitok Sarawak’ campaign until March next year to give a boost to domestic tourism. Through the campaign, she said various tourism promotion packages would be offered to the public, Sarawakians in particular.

“These packages are lined up to help Sarawakians see for themselves the beauty of the Land of the Hornbills. Perhaps some Sarawakians have no clue about Irrawaddy Dolphin Cruise in Santubong, Fun Dive in Satang Island, and Mulu National Park,” she added.

Sarawak Travel app is the first of its kind in Sarawak and serves as a platform to promote tourism holistically and to enable tourism industry players to promote their products.

The app is available on both the Google Play Store and Apple App Store by entering ‘Sarawak More To Discover’.

For more information on tourism packages offered, go to www.sarawaktourism.com.