By Shikin Louis
KUCHING, Jan 17: Sarawak has set a target of welcoming 5 million visitors in 2025, projecting a tourism revenue of RM12.73 billion, says Tourism, Creative Industry, and Performing Arts Minister, Dato Sri Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah.
Speaking during a press conference today, he highlighted Sarawak’s impressive achievements in 2024, surpassing its visitor target of 4 million, reaching 4,831,650 arrivals.
This marked a 22.95 per cent increase from 2023, which recorded 3,929,657 visitors.
“This came with an astounding tourism receipt of RM12,454,236,032.70 for 2024, as compared to RM9,985,143,725.69 earned in 2023 – a leap of RM2.5 billion just within a year.
“Therefore, we are very confident that we will be able to hit the target of 5 million visitors this year which will bring an estimated tourism receipt of RM12.73 billion,” he said during a press conference held at Baitul Makmur II building here today.
He added that attracting more foreign visitors would significantly boost tourism receipts, as international travellers tend to spend more compared to domestic tourists.
According to ministry data, Sarawak welcomed 2,962,820 foreign visitors in 2024, with the remaining 1,868,830 being domestic tourists.
In December 2024 alone, the State recorded 312,555 foreign arrivals and 173,572 domestic visitors.
Brunei topped the list of international arrivals that month, contributing 203,377 visitors, followed by Indonesia (72,074), China (6,585), Singapore (6,262), and the Philippines (5,058).
Also present during the press conference were Sarawak Deputy Minister of Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Arts, Dato Snowdan Lawan, and the ministry’s permanent secretary Datu Sherrina Hussaini. – DayakDaily
