Chew said these agencies were picked based on their demonstrated commitment to actively promote Sarawak holiday packages in Singapore.
KUCHING (Sept 28): Seven Singapore-based agents have been hand-picked by the Sarawak Trade Tourism Office Singapore (Statos) and Sarawak Tourism Board (STB) for a travel agent familiarisation tour to Kuching starting tomorrow.
Statos chief executive officer Chew Chang Guan said these agencies were picked based on their demonstrated commitment to actively promote Sarawak holiday packages in Singapore.
He also said this will be first post-pandemic travel agent familiarisation tour to be welcomed by Kuching’s tourism industry players in nearly three years.
“Since the reopening of borders in April, the number of Singapore visitors to Sarawak remains positive with Singapore being top 3 in the charts, attracting 12,984 visitors between March and August this year.
“The time is right for us to bring Singapore agents to Sarawak to visit and rediscover everything Kuching has to offer.
“With many exciting new tourism products to showcase, it will certainly give our agents plenty of new ideas to upgrade and add value to their next tour packages,” he said in a press release.
According to the press release, the group led by two officers from the Statos team, includes representatives from Broadway Travel, Muhibbah Travel, QQ Travel, EU Holidays, Going Places, Neway Travel and Singatour.
Their jam-packed four-day programme, which will run from Sept 29 to Oct 2, is designed to highlight those experiences that directly appeal to the Singapore market – as identified in the recently published Singapore travel market research study.
With food recognised as one of the main selling-points in Singapore, the programme will include a scrumptious food-trail offering different dining experiences during which participants will sample local delicacies such as Sarawak Laksa, Kolo Mee and Ice Kacang.
During their stay, the participants will also be visiting several must-see attractions including Semenggoh Wildlife centre, the recently opened Borneo Cultures Museum, Siniawan Night markets, and the ever-popular Sarawak Culture Village.
As part of the networking programme, STB will host a business-to-business (B2B) networking session with Brunei, Sarawak and Indonesian travel agents at the Borneo Convention Centre Kuching (BCCK).
“This event will enable local outbound agents to connect with potential Singapore partners to establish joint marketing agreements and work together to increase visitor numbers.
“The Singapore government currently does not permit overseas-based agents to directly promote their package tours to consumers in Singapore,” added the press release.