By Doreen Ling
KUCHING, Nov 11: With the coming Sarawak Election 2026 and a packed calendar of major events in the final two months of the year, Minister of Tourism, Creative Industry, and Performing Arts Sarawak Dato Sri Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah remains hopeful that Sarawak will reach its target of five million visitor arrivals this year.
He cited several major events that will take place this year, including the Manggung Di Muara 2026 concert set to take place this weekend, the Sarawak Countdown 2027 celebration, and the Borneo Jazz Festival 2026, which he hoped would increase the number of tourist arrivals to Sarawak.
“I also believe that with the State election taking place, many people will come to observe how the election is conducted in Sarawak, particularly members of the media from Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore.
“Deep down, I hope we will be able to achieve the five-million target. However, I have some doubts about that, and I say this with caution because we have to be realistic,” he said at a press conference on Manggung Di Muara 2026 at Baitulmakmur here today.
He said that as of September, a total of 3,528,676 arrivals have been recorded, and hoped that another October will tally 500,000 arrivals, which will total over four million.
“That would mean we need another one million visitors in November and December combined, which might be a little difficult. Nevertheless, our estimated target for this year is around 4.7 million.
“Last year, we managed to record 4.97 million arrivals. This year, however, I would be very happy if we could reach 4.5 million,” he said.
Abdul Karim also noted that global challenges have affected Sarawak’s tourism, but expressed appreciation that Sarawak has managed to navigate through them.
He said that based on data he has received, Sarawak’s tourism receipts averaged more than RM1 billion per month from January to September.
“In terms of tourism receipts, the performance is much better than last year, from what I have observed. However, visitor arrivals are slightly lower.
“Considering all these circumstances, I would still say our tourism industry is performing quite satisfactorily,” he said.
At the same time, he said that several states in Malaysia have expressed interest in collaborating with Sarawak on how to manage the tourism industry.
“This shows that many are looking at how we manage our tourism industry. Even if we cannot reach five million arrivals, we should still be grateful because we can see the positive impact on supporting industries,” he said.
In a press handout, out of the 3,528,676 arrivals recorded in Sarawak as of September this year, 1,984,760 comprise international tourists, with Brunei Darussalam contributing the most at 1,150,753.
Indonesia follows with 490,254 arrivals, China with 82,334, Singapore with 47,489, and the Philippines with 33,985. — DayakDaily
