Abdul Karim shows thumbs-up after receiving his Covid-19 vaccine jab at the Sarawak Heart Institute in Kota Samarahan.
KUCHING: The local tourism industry players are told to be optimistic for the revival of the tourism sector in Sarawak now that the vaccination exercise is on-going, says Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah.
“We are optimistic that the tourism sector will recover soon. Hopefully, the ongoing vaccination exercise would facilitate the rate of recovery,” he said in a statement yesterday.
He added that inter-state and inter-district travel would only be allowed after the Covid-19 situation had improved.
In the meantime, the tourism industry players must make the necessary preparations, he said.
“Once the inter-district crossing is allowed, Sarawakians will start to travel to other districts, which will help to boost the tourism sector again. Many proactive measures have been undertaken by the federal and state governments to stimulate the economy and also help restore the state’s tourism industry,” Abdul Karim said.
The minister, however, cautioned the local people to be vigilant and continue to abide by the standard operating procedures (SOP) when they had to travel to other places.
He said he was looking forward to the second and third phases of the vaccination programme in Sarawak (from end-March to August) whereby about two million Sarawakians would be vaccinated.
On another development, Abdul Karim lauded the support from the Ministry of Communications and Multimedia (KKMM) that would continue to play its role in assisting the federal Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture (Motac) restore the country’s tourism industry.
The announcement was made by KKMM Minister Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah, who added that they had offered assistance to Motac in promoting places of interest via broadcasts by Radio Televisyen Malaysia (RTM) and the Malaysian National News Agency (Bernama).
“We welcome the offer, which also includes giving slots for short videos and documentaries to be aired on RTM channels and to be featured by Bernama and also the Malaysian National Film Development Corporation (Finas).”
He said such support could assist the state in reviving the tourism sector, which had been badly affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.
“KKMM is also offering private companies to apply for grants through the Malaysian Creative Industry Stimulus Package (Prisma) in the production of promotional videos to help in highlighting interesting places for local and foreign tourists,” he added.