By Shikin Louis
KUCHING, March 11: The upcoming Borneo Highlands hill resort is projected to be fully booked every weekend as Kuching folk are getting more affluent.
Sarawak Minister of Tourism, Creative Industry, and Performing Arts Dato Sri Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah cited Damai Beach Resort as an example, stating that it is practically fully booked every weekend.
“I can see that it is not easy to get rooms in Damai, and here comes Borneo Highlands, which is just less than an hour away from the city centre,” he told a press conference before flagging off D’Drift 2024, which was held at DayakDaily’s office here today.
He stated that Kuching is now an affluent city with the emergence of various types of leisure, including soprano music performances, which also explains why Damai is always fully booked.
“Sarawak does not have a hill resort. Once we have that, I can say it will be practically fully booked every weekend. So that is why when it comes to marketing, it is not a problem at all,” he added.
Pointing out that the Borneo Highlands is outside his Ministry’s purview, Abdul Karim hopes that the authorities involved will fast-track the resort’s revamping efforts and make them visible within the next two years.
“I just hope that those who are responsible for the Borneo Highlands would come up with good planning and fast timing so that at least maybe one or two years from now, we can see something moving, whether it is the cable cars or improvement on the road or the golf course,” he said.
Touching on the recent collapse of the iconic rock formation of Bako National Park—the Serpent Head Sea Stack, Abdul Karim believed that mankind should let nature take its course and focus on highlighting many other natural formations.
He said that after hundreds of years of constant beating by the sea waves, the sea stack would eventually collapse, just like what had happened to Tudan Beach’s ‘horse drinking water’ rock formation and Australia’s Twelve Apostles.
“When they collapse, we would just have to look into other new areas that we can publicise and show to the world.
“For example, I didn’t know that the Paku Rock Maze Garden in Bau was right at our doorstep, and after that, there were so many visitors.
“Therefore, even when we have one sea stack that falls, there might be ten more new products that we can showcase to the world. I look at it from that angle,” he emphasised. — DayakDaily
