Tag: Sharzede Datu Haji Salleh Askor

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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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STB to Ramp up Tourism Promo in the Netherlands

STB to Ramp up Tourism Promo in the Netherlands

January 28, 2019

Sarawak Tourism Board (STB) is set to ramp its tourism promotion in the Netherlands with at least three Dutch operators who have expressed their interests in joint marketing collaboration.

“It’s timely as we are now promoting aggressively our Visit Sarawak Campaign”  said STB Chief Executive Officer, Sharzede Datu Haji Salleh Askor after a destination briefing session which was attended by 15 Dutch operators and media partners here yesterday.

“I am glad we could offer a concrete proposal to the operators such as Fox Verre Reizen, Pangea Travel and Sawadee Reizen”, said Sharzede and adding that the agents are ready to go big time in Sarawak.

“What interests them is the destination that features responsible tourism and Sarawak has it, keeping to its theme as the destination that offers culture, adventure, nature, food and festival”, she added.

Sharzede admitted that “Sarawak has lost its ‘visibility’ in the Dutch market in the past years but we are determined to move in and partner these agents leveraging on the Visit Sarawak Campaign”, she explained.

“Yes, the arrival numbers were down, especially after the airline tragedy of 2014 when we lost the direct flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur and that had affected the business of the Dutch operators” added Sharzede.

“After meeting the operators today, we are confident that we will be make inroads with our proposal offered to these operators to partner them in their promotional effort in the Netherlands”, she explained.

“What excites our Dutch partners are the new product experiences that we now have, including the central region and also the newly rejuvenated products like the Old Kuching Heritage Trail”.

“The Dutch have their ‘Kanaal’ and we too have canals in Mukah and these product similarities especially in the central region have aroused interests among our Dutch partners, giving us an opportunity to connect closely with them”, enthused Sharzede.

What we do now is ensure that these operators are shown and are able to experience the new products first hand, with familiarization trips organised by the Board partnering with local agents, she said.

Sharzede, who was joined by Rosni Mamat, First Secretary to the Embassy of Malaysia at The Hague, expressed high hopes in revitalising the Dutch-speaking markets, acknowledging that the destination product compatibility would take the Sarawak tourism industry to greater heights.

From the series of engagements we had with the Dutch operators, we believe the Dutch tourists look for experiential tourism and also choose destinations that subscribe to the principles of responsible tourism and as such Sarawak could leverage of these standards and values to position itself among the favoured destination in the region, she added.

Calling on the local industry partners to be industrious in churning out more tourism products and packages to remain competitive and be relevant, Sharzede was of the opinion that the long haul market of the Benelux will continue to be the main supplier of tourists in the coming years.

Meanwhile, both Product Managers from Fox Verre Reizen and Sawadee Reizen had also expressed their interests to do a familiarization trip to Sarawak in order for them to have a first-hand experience of the destination whereas the Product Manager of Pangea Travel had, indicated his intention to include the Central Region as a new product in their promotional catalogue.

STB is on a week-long tourism promotion mission to Finland and Holland to attend the MATKA Travel Fair in Helsinki and also conducted destination briefing and partners’ engagement session in Amsterdam with local Sarawak partners.

The mission was supported by Tourism Malaysia’s office at The Hague.

While in Helsinki on Tuesday, the STB delegation were guests at the office of the Malaysian Embassy’s First Secretary, Norhalilah Abdul Jalil.

Norhalilah (left) with Sharzede at her office.

 

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Three Nordic Travel Agencies to Partner STB to Promote Sarawak

Three Nordic Travel Agencies to Partner STB to Promote Sarawak

January 21, 2019

Helsinki (Finland), Monday: Sarawak Tourism Board (STB) has secured three Nordic partners to spearhead its marketing campaign for the year at the MATKA Nordic Travel Fair which ended here yesterday.

It was indeed a fruitful outing and we secured among the best Nordic travel agencies to work with us and we hope to partner them to drive our campaign, said the elated STB’s Chief Executive Officer, Sharzede Datu Haji Salleh Askor.

“We had fruitful engagements with Finland’s Olympia Air Travel Limited, Helsinki based Adventura Tour Operator Ltd, and Copenhagen based Malaysia Experten and we will be doing follow up with these region’s leading operators”

“For a start, familiarisation trips for their product managers will be the first step to introduce the State’s Culture, Adventure, Nature, Food and Festival’s product experiences”

“This is STB’s first foray into MATKA Nordic Travel Fair, and we find that there is great potential in this market as there is a match between the products that they are looking for and what we have to offer in Sarawak”, said Sharzede.

The three Nordic partners will be sending tour groups as early as next month for at least five to seven days tours in Sarawak and are currently selling tours with a departures also schedule in April.

Describing Sarawak as a favourite destination for those 50’s and above, Liisa Puolkkainen, Olympia Air Travel’s Product Manager, expressed confidence that Sarawak will continue to attract travellers from the Nordic countries particularly Finland where most of her clients look for nature and culture as their top choice in deciding their holiday destination.

Meanwhile, Malaysia Experten Business Development Manager, Charlotte Sandakumaran was of the opinion that Sarawak is a family destination for travellers from the Nordic region.

“My 15 years’ experience and having sold many Malaysia packages, Sarawak definitely captures interest of families as a safe and family friendly destination”, she opined.

Kuching based Ecogreen Holidays Director, Gary Speldewinde had high hopes for the Nordic market adding that MATKA Nordic Travel Fair was a good platform in educating Finnish travellers about the destination and the tours available.

“We have interests from 10 free independent travellers who were keen on Sarawak product experiences and we hope to be able to convince them of their choices and prepare them for their holidays” he added.

The annual Fair started on January 17 with the first day dedicated to trade visitors while the next three subsequent days were opened to members of the public.

Picture shows Sharzede (centre) with Charlottee (right) and Mustafa Ajan, Malaysia Experten Managing Director at a discussion at the fair.

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STB Celebrates CNY by Promoting Iconic Sarawak Animals

STB Celebrates CNY by Promoting Iconic Sarawak Animals

January 15, 2019

Kuching, Tuesday – Sarawak Tourism Board (STB) celebrates this Chinese New Year by promoting Sarawak’s iconic animal, the Bornean Bearded Pig.

Around 24% of Sarawak’s population are of Chinese descent, making the lunar New Year a big celebration throughout the state every year.

The use of the ang pau is a tradition celebrated by Chinese communities throughout Sarawak and the world, where the elders give red packets to children on the Lunar New Year for good fortune.

In more modern renditions of the red packet, the animal of the Chinese zodiac for that year is often featured on the front.

As the Visit Sarawak Campaign continues, STB used this opportunity to celebrate the local cultural tradition of celebrating the lunar New Year by printing red packets for their partners in tourism, as well as promoting Sarawak’s distinct nature, this year being the Bornean Bearded Pig.

Bako National Park’s Bornean Bearded Pig is one of the most popular animals in the park, second only to the proboscis monkey, it became the perfect option for the “red packet”.

The ang pau packets will be shared with STB’s tourism industry partners and visitors, as well as Tourism Malaysia offices in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan to promote Sarawak to the China market.

“For our Visit Sarawak Campaign, we are using every opportunity to highlight Sarawak’s unique features, in this case our rich Chinese culture as well as our unique endemic fauna, such as the bearded pig which can be found in Bako National Park,” said CEO of Sarawak Tourism Board, Sharzede Datu Haji Salleh Askor.

Visitors to Sarawak can find these red packets after January 21st at the Visitor Information Centre (VIC) in Kuching, Miri and Sibu.

The VICs are located at the Sarawak Tourism Complex at the Old Court House in Kuching, Lot 452 at Jalan Melayu in Miri, and at the Sibu Heritage Centre in Sibu.

STB has already expressed plans on continuing the use of indigenous animals in their Chinese New Year ang paus.

Bako National Park is Sarawak’s oldest and most visited national park, located a 45 minute drive and 15 minute boat ride away from Kuching city, with a population of endemic animals, with the bearded pig as one of them.

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Royal Brunei Airlines to fly Brunei-Kuching route beginning Dec 28

Royal Brunei Airlines to fly Brunei-Kuching route beginning Dec 28

November 16, 2018

MIRI: Sarawak will have an opportunity to increase its tourists influx, in line with the Visit Sarawak Campaign next year with Royal Brunei Airlines (RB) new Brunei – Kuching route commencing on Dec 28.

Minister for Tourism, Arts, Culture, Youth and Sports Datuk Abdul Karim Hamzah said Sarawak welcomes the new route which could bring in tourists and tourism money into the state.

“We are very proud of our heritage and very proud of what we have. I believe that Brunei also feels the same about their heritage and everything that we have down here, we want to showcase to the outside world,” he said yesterday.

He spoke at a press conference after witnessing the signing of memorandum of agreement (MoA) between RB and Sarawak Tourism Board (STB) at Royal Brunei Recreation Club, in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei.

Also present at the MoA ceremony were Brunei’s Minister of Primary Resources and Tourism Dato Seri Setia Awang Ali Apong; RB chief executive officer (CEO) Karam Chand and STB CEO Sharzede Datuk Salleh Askor.

The CEO of Sarawak Tourism Board, Sharzede Datu Haji Salleh Askor, and CEO of Royal Brunei Airlines (RB), Karam Chand, officially signed the MOA and had an exchange of documents, commencing RB’s flights to Kuching beginning in December. The signing was witnessed by Sarawak Minister of Tourism, Arts, Culture, Youth and Sports, Datuk Haji Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah and Brunei Minister of Primary Resources and Tourism, Dato Seri Setia Awang Haji Ali bin Apong.

Read the full Borneo Post article here…

Updated on 16 November, 2018.

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