KUCHING, Sept 30: Sarawak is keen on advancing medical tourism, aside from leisure travel, with Indonesia, which accounted for a considerable portion of foreign patients seeking treatment in the State.
Sarawak Tourism Board (STB) Integrated Marketing Communications Division deputy chief executive officer (CEO) Suriya Charles Buas emphasised immense opportunities for Sarawak’s healthcare development going forward.
“We see this as a tourism opportunity. We want to show our Indonesian friends that Sarawak is one of the best places for respite and relaxation.
“We look forward to also seeing us coming together to focus on expanding medical tourism to build an even stronger presence in Indonesia,” he said in his opening remarks during the Business Networking Session with travel agents from Indonesia, Brunei, and Singapore today.
STB has organised a familiarisation trip for Indonesian, Bruneian, and Singaporean travel agents to discover Sarawak’s melting pot of ‘Culture, Adventure, Nature, Food, and Festival’ first-hand.
According to Suriya, in a statement, Brunei, Indonesia, and Singapore topped Sarawak’s list for the highest number of visitor arrivals pre-pandemic in 2019.
Brunei was ranked first with 1,296,017 visitor arrivals, followed by Indonesia, ranked second with 418,461 visitor arrivals, and Singapore, ranked fourth with 46,812 visitor arrivals.
“With the recovery of the tourism sector now underway, the familiarisation trip for all strategic travel partners comes in timely with new and upgraded Sarawak products to discover or rediscover.
“We hope that the diverse itinerary planned out for this familiarisation trip will be an eye-opening experience for our partners to explore further business prospects and compelling travel packages that cater to various markets back in Brunei, Indonesia and Singapore,” he added.
Besides participating travel agents, the familiarisation trip was also joined by representative officers from Tourism Malaysia Jakarta, Tourism Malaysia Brunei, Sarawak Trade and Tourism Office Singapore (STATOS) and Bruneian social influencer GZul.
The Business Networking Session was attended by 40 Sarawak tourism industry players to network and promote Sarawak products to the agents.
The exciting itinerary planned for the familiarisation trip includes a trip to the iconic Unesco World Heritage site in Mulu, Borneo Cultures Museum and Keringkam Gallery, Kuching Wetland Cruise, Kuching Waterfront tour and morning city cycling around Kuching and extensive Kuching food trails. — DayakDaily
