By Ashley Sim
KUCHING, June 30: Minister for Tourism, Creative Industry, and Performing Arts Dato Sri Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah is confident that Sarawak will achieve its target of 1.2 million visitors by the end of the year due to the number of events and festivals planned for the State.
According to Abdul Karim during a press conference after officiating at the ‘What About Kuching (WAK) 2022, Announcement, and Call for Proposal’ kickstarter event today at a local hotel here, this is based on the most recent statistics for visitor arrivals in the State, which totaled 439,150 visitors from January to May this year, compared to 560,278 overall for 2021.
“In terms of percentage, there was growth of 680 per cent. The number of foreigners for 2022 from January to May in 2022 is 43,404, which is a 376 per cent increase over the same period in 2021, when it was only 9,108.
“I believe from June until December 2022, the numbers will pick up again.
“We should be able to hit the target (1.2 million visitors) because every month, we have something going on like the international marathons, the Kuching Waterfront Jazz Festival, and the Kuching Festival Food Fair, among others,” he said.
Abdul Karim, who is also the Minister for Youth, Sports, and Entrepreneur Development, also said that the borders of Brunei will reopen on August 1 and that Sarawak expects at least 4,000 people per week to enter from Brunei.
Meanwhile, according to the Department of Statistics Malaysia’s Domestic Tourism Survey 2021 report, Sarawak received 6.5 million domestic visitors last year, making it one of Malaysia’s most visited states. — DayakDaily
