Ting (second right, back row) and his team with Hwa Gong Bau Historical Society chairman Pemanca Bong Jong Long (left), treasurer Lucas Lim (right, front row), committee member Maw San Kapitan Chung Man Fook (left) at Gold Hill peak on Saturday. — Photo courtesy of Hwa Gong Bau Historical Society
KUCHING (Aug 9): There are many potential places of tourist interest in Bau that be developed along with existing tourist spots to turn the district into a premier ‘Eco and Cultural Heritage’tourist destination in Sarawak.
According to Sarawak Research Society chairman Dr Hiram Ting, these places need to be explored and developed in a proper way.
Ting was leading a preliminary visit by his research team to collect information on the unexplored places to prepare a report with the theme ‘Green and Gold Exploration’ on potential tourism sites for the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture (MTAC).
This is actually his sixth visit to Bau within two months. He was accompanying MTAC permanent secretary Hii Chang Kee during the last visit on July 31.
“We have explored a few places of tourism value in Taiton today which are less developed and explored.
“The state government can actually capitalise on these natural resources to develop something to boost our tourism industry.
“If nothing proper or holistic is planned, these places could be further damaged by visitors because when some people visit places, they like to do new things without really knowing how to preserve these places,” he told the Borneo Post on Saturday.
According to Ting who is a lecturer with UCSI University in Sarawak, there are many places of tourism interest such as the “Sleeping Beauty”, “Little Guilin”, Sleeping Giant Baby” and “Rock Garden” along with many man-made caves and lakes which are formerly mining areas in Taiton as well as the “Little Angkor Watt” in Paku.
“Some of these sites are strongly related to Chinese history, links of Chinese with Sambas in Kalimantan, Indonesia and the British colonial rule. The community leaders here are very keen to have the places developed as tourist attractions.
“We are working very closely with the local community leaders and Hwa Gong Historical Society to conduct our research and study.
“Our Minister (MTAC) Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah has been stressing on responsible tourism and we believe that we can work with the ministry and other stakeholders to develop tourism in Bau in a holistic way,” added Ting.