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Malaysia Travel Guide

State to Pursue Connectivity Despite Setbacks

State to Pursue Connectivity Despite Setbacks

March 13, 2019

The State will continue to pursue connectivity to international airport hubs despite recent setbacks, assured the Assistant Minister for Tourism, Datuk Lee Kim Shin yesterday.

It is not easy to convince airlines especially foreign carriers to Sarawak as there are equally attractive destinations that they can look to, he said.

We are trying our very best and the ROUTES Asia 2019 sessions’ here has been a touch point to meet up with airline companies in the regions and we want to convince them that connectivity into Sarawak can be a viable business, he added.

Having scheduled meeting appointments and engagements with airlines and airports, we began to understand the business and that enables us to be wiser when dealing with the business professionals in the tourism industry, he continued.

Datuk Lee, who was leading the Sarawak Tourism Board’s delegation to the business gathering today met up with nine airlines especially companies mostly from the region and fours airport operators to obtain better insights into their business needs.

“We made headway today and with some promising results during the engagement session and that keeps our hopes up in securing better connectivity into the State, he enthused.

“We have to work hard and be able to give enough reasons to convince airline operators to consider mounting flight to Sarawak”, he added.

Today, the Sarawak team met up with at four more airline operators to wind up the session before calling it a day and return back.

Acknowledging that connectivity must be propelled by sufficient number of travellers, tourists and holiday makers, Datuk Lee said it must also be complemented by business travels and as such conducive business environment and attractive destination’s tourism products were sought for by airlines operators he explained.

ROUTES Asia, the region’s leading meetings of airlines and airport executives started on March 10 and will end today.

Datuk Lee (left) with Zainuddin Mohammad, Malaysia Airports Holding Berhad’s Senior Manager and sharzede (right) as the business meeting with representatives of Qatar Airways

 

Datuk Lee (right) presenting the Gunung Mulu National Park coffee table book to Min Yao, Director of International Planning of China Express Airlines. Seen from left is STB’s Chief Executive officer, Sharzede Datu Haji Salleh Askor and China Express’s International Business Manager, Meng Ling.

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Malaysia Airlines Signs Partnership with Sarawak Tourism Board for 2019

Malaysia Airlines Signs Partnership with Sarawak Tourism Board for 2019

November 6, 2018

LONDON, 6 November 2018:  Malaysia Airlines signed a partnership agreement with Sarawak Tourism Board yesterday to boost tourist arrivals to Sarawak and raise the profile of the destination in the UK.

Under the new agreement, Malaysia Airlines and Sarawak Tourism Board will fund a range of campaigns and promotional activities, including Digital Campaign Promotions, to boost domestic and international travel to Sarawak, OOH media to promote sale campaigns on print and taxis and joint-promotional activities with selected travel partners.

The agreement was signed at this year’s World Travel Market in London’s ExCel Centre by Sarawak Tourism Board Chief Executive Officer, Sharzede Datu Salleh Askor and Malaysia Airlines’ Chief Marketing Officer, Arved von Muehlen.

Arved von Muehlen, Malaysia Airline’s CMO, said: “We are delighted to be working with Sarawak Tourism Board even more in 2019 to showcase all that the region has to offer following agent familiarisation trips and  press trips jointly organised last year. Sarawak has a plethora of culture, adventure, nature, food and festivals ready to be discovered by the British public.”

Sharzede Datu Salleh Askor said: “We look forward to working closely with Malaysia Airlines to showcase the wonders of Sarawak to the world. The strength of the airline’s network and the quality of their product resonate strongly with travellers.”

The World Travel Market is a three-day conference bringing together travel professionals, key industry buyers, journalists, digital influencers, students and tourism ministers to discuss business, innovations and trends in the travel industry. Last year’s event sparked a million meetings, resulting in around £3 billion in contracts.

Malaysia Airlines also recently renewed its global partnership deal with Tourism Malaysia. The two parties will jointly invest in promoting Malaysia in key overseas markets including China, Australia and the UK.

Malaysia Airlines operates twice daily between London and Kuala Lumpur on its new Airbus A350. To take advantage of the airline’s great prices guests can book their tickets at Malaysia Airlines’ participating travel agents or visit Malaysia Airlines’ website at

https://www.malaysiaairlines.com/uk/en.html

 

Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture Mohamad Din Ketapi (second from right), with Tuan Haji Mohammad Ibrahim Nordin, STB Board of Director member (right), Sharzede Datu Salleh Askor (centre), Arved von Muehlen (second left) and Captain Izham Ismail (left), flanked by Malaysia airlines stewardesses and a cultural troupe in traditional orang ulu garb.

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UK to be Key Market for Sarawak Tourism Board’s Promotional Activities

UK to be Key Market for Sarawak Tourism Board’s Promotional Activities

November 7, 2018

Sarawak Tourism Board unveiled the Visit Sarawak Year logo yesterday on November 7, 2018, as a precursor to its official launch in January 2019 at an industry event held in London today.

The Visit Sarawak logo will be the anchor emblem for the Visit Sarawak campaign.

Sarawak Minister of Tourism, Arts, Culture, Youth and Sports, Datuk Haji Abdul Karim Hamzah said that the Visit Sarawak campaign is envisioned to place Sarawak on the tourism map as one of the preferred tourism destinations in Southeast Asia.

“The tagline, “More to Discover” underscores Sarawak Tourism Board’s strategy to position the state as a plethora of culture, adventure, nature, food, and festivals (CANFF) offerings that are not found anywhere else in the world, and ready to be discovered,” he said.

“Last year, we received 33,399 more British tourists as compared to 31,274 in 2016 a 6.79% increase which is a good indicator of gaining interest from travellers from the UK market”.

As of July this year, Sarawak received 19,784 arrivals from the UK and with the hope to reach a 10% growth this year.

He cited that the seven days Kuching combine with Mulu packages which are favoured by tourists from the UK with Central Sarawak being a rising attraction.

“We will be looking to intensify efforts to increase arrivals from the UK in the coming year while at the same time to increase their length of stay to at least 10 days in Sarawak”.

British tourists can now look forward to more new packages that will provide competitively priced offerings focusing on culture, adventure, nature, food and festivals, he added.

Sarawak had recorded a total spending of RM8.59 billion from tourism in 2017, which accounted for 7.9% of its gross domestic product (GDP).

International arrivals to Sarawak clocked in at 2.6 million last year. Some of the key international markets for Visit Sarawak will be UK, Germany, the Benelux, China, Australia, and ASEAN countries. ASEAN countries were a key source of visitors, which accounted for 48.98% or 2.38 million arrivals in 2017.

The newly-minted Sarawak Tourism Board CEO, Askor said, “Digital will be a large part of our campaign. Besides creating content on digital platforms to reach out to our markets, we are also developing a mobile app which will anchor the discovery process for all our visitors.”

Sarawak Tourism Board’s new logo multi-coloured logo spells out “Sarawak” with the tagline, “More to discover” to represent the aspirations of the campaign.

Comprising seven colours, in curled script, the red and yellow colours represent the state flag while orange represents the strong spirit and vibrant energy of the different ethnic communities within Sarawak, which is quintessential to Sarawak’s diverse tourism proposition. Green is used to represent the verdant rainforests abundant with wildlife and blue is used to represent the calmness of the ocean along Sarawak’s long coastline.

The uniqueness of the logo is augmented by the hornbill, which replaces the letter “A,” representing Sarawak’s moniker, “Bumi Kenyalang,” or “Land of the Hornbills” that the State has been known for many years, which is also an important symbol of luck to the indigenous people of Sarawak.

Sharzede Datu Salleh Askor (second left) at the prize presentation to the grand prize lucky draw winner that night, Jayne Byott (centre), Corporate Events Manager of J.M.B. Associates, United Kingdom. Also present at the occasion are Tuan Haji Ibrahim Noordin, STB Board of Director (second right), Richard De Villa, Marketing Manager UK Europe, Malaysia Airlines (right) and Rosmarie Wong of The Ranee Boutique (left).

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First Cruise Ship Of The Year Arrives In Kuching

First Cruise Ship Of The Year Arrives In Kuching

January 15, 2018

KUCHING, Friday: The Cruise Ship ‘Star Legend’ of Windstar Cruise docked at Sim Kheng Hong Port on January 8 at 8.45am, making it the first cruise ship to berth in Kuching this year.

194 passengers, mostly from Europe and the United States, were greeted with a traditional garlanding as they disembarked to visit Bako National Park, Sarawak Cultural Village and experience a tour around the Cat City.

This was the maiden voyage by Windstar Cruises and is the first of nine cruises scheduled to berth at Sarawak’s harbours.

Kuching is expected to receive three additional ships this year as compared to the six cruise ships from last year.

Last year 1,964 passengers arrived in Sarawak, with the Silver Shadow, Insignia, L’Austral and Silver Shadow docking in Kuching and the Silver Shadow docking twice in Bintulu.

In 2016, nine ships carrying 3,782 passengers with the Nautica, Astor, Hamburg, Silver Shadow, Seven Seas Voyager, Seabourn Sojourn and Insignia docking in Kuching and Silver Shadow docking twice in Bintulu.

Ten ships with 3,646 passengers arrived in 2015 with the Seabourne docking in Kuching once, Insignia twice and Nat Geo Orion thrice in Kuching while the Silver Wind, Statendam, Silver Shadow and Europa 2 docked in Bintulu.

Arriving cruise ships positively affect local industries such as attraction caretakers, food, and beverage and service providers, receiving an injection of a few hundred additional customers in one day.

“The gradual increase in cruise ships arriving to Sarawak is encouraging, as passengers from these cruise ships are a boon to the Sarawak economy in the port cities, creating a spinoff in the service industry from their patronage,” stated Director of Events and Corporate Relations, Angelina Bateman.

Cruise Ship Garlanding

Passengers disembarking and being garlanded by cultural troupe.

Cruise Ship memento

STB Director of Events and Corporate Relations, Angelina Bateman presenting memento to Captain Neil Broomhall, with General Manager of Kuching Port Authority Robert Lau on the left.

 

Issued by:

Communications Unit
SARAWAK TOURISM BOARD
T: +6 082-423600  F: +6 082-416700
E: [email protected]

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Christmas Treat For Sibu Methodist Children’s Home

Christmas Treat For Sibu Methodist Children’s Home

December 21, 2017

Sibu, Thursday – 30 children from the Sibu Methodist Children’s Home were treated to lunch by Sarawak Tourism Board (STB) at the Tanahmas Hotel recently. The children were aged four to 17 years old.

Activities for the afternoon included games and gifts presentation to the children.

“We are delighted to host this Christmas gathering and do our part in sharing the joy of Christmas with the children as part of the board’s ongoing corporate social responsibility (CSR) programme,” said Angelina Bateman, Director of Events and Corporate Relations.

Similar programmes are also conducted in Miri and Kuching,” she added.

That afternoon, Hii Chang Kee, Sibu Resident was invited to present certificates of appreciation to bands and individuals who participated at the busking programme carried out fortnightly at the grounds of the Sibu heritage Centre. This event was initiated in 2016 by Sarawak Tourism Board, supported by Sibu Heritage Centre with the objective of providing a venue for the locals to showcase their talent and to create activities at the weekends.

Since January until December, Sibu Martial Art, The Japs, Sarikei Buskers, Human Energy, Borneo Spectrum, D’vine, Astronaut, Camy, Elizabeth Bungan, Tribalcoustic, Trial Tone and Vessel Joey took part in the busking events.

To close the event for the year, Tribalcoustic and Borneo Spectrum provided the public with a splendid performance with Christmas songs among others.

Through this busking programme, local talented bands and individuals could promote themselves. The programme will still be continued in 2018 and it is open to all interested parties who can contact Visitors Information Center Sibu or email [email protected] for more details.

Children of Methodist Children’s Home Sibu during the gathering.

Certificate presentation by Hii Chang Kee (third from right) to Angelina Bateman, Director of Events and Corporate Relations.

 

Issued by:

Communications Unit
SARAWAK TOURISM BOARD
T: +6 082-423600  F: +6 082-416700
E: [email protected]ism.com

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