By Ling Hui
KUCHING, April 27: Homestay, resort and park operators must do everything they can to ensure that all their facilities and infrastructure are safe to receive tourists, reminded Minister of Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Arts Dato Sri Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah.
As Sarawak’s tourism sector reopens fully to both local and foreign visitors after being closed for two years due to the Covid-19 pandemic, he urged operators to always monitor and maintain the conditions of their premises to avoid unnecessary mishaps.
“Make sure that the places are visit-worthy. We don’t want any accidents to happen at these tourist spots when some (incidents) could even lead to deaths.
“Other than premises, transportation such as boats, vans, and cars that carry tourists around should be safe and in good operational condition as well.
“For example, on boats, there must be life jackets and the engines should be in good condition,” said Abdul Karim when announcing the Sarawak heritage, arts and culture facilitation fund at Bangunan Baitulmakmur here today.
He was responding to a bridge collapse incident at a resort in Mulu yesterday (April 26) that injured four men including a general manager and a resort manager, who are both foreigners.
Abdul Karim said he was made understood that the four were on a site inspection visit, intending to examine whether the facilities including the bridge they fell from required any repair.
“I can say that they were looking into upgrading the bridge, otherwise the four of them would not have been there.
“It’s just unfortunate that when they were there, the bridge collapsed. But the intention was there to make sure the facilities are worthy (safe) to receive visitors,” he said. — Dayakdaily
