By Ashley Sim
KUCHING, March 11: Sarawak Minister of Tourism, Creative Industry, and Performing Arts, Dato Sri Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah, has disclosed that Sarawak Tourism Board (STB) is currently applying for a patent on its new tagline, ‘Gateway to Borneo’.
Abdul Karim, who is also Sarawak Minister of Youth, Sports, and Entrepreneur Development (MYSED), pointed out that STB had been using the tagline, ‘Sarawak, More to Discover’, but opted to create something new.
“It (new tagline) has created a little bit of ripple. Even the Western media were asking me, why do you use this tagline? Because I know it will definitely, some will be happy, some will not be happy.
“Borneo is the third largest island in the world. There are a few nations down here—Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia. And here you are, claiming that the gateway to Borneo is through Sarawak. Well, that’s part of strategy, I would say that’s part of tourism strategy,” he said at a press conference today before flagging off ‘DayakDaily D’Drift 2024’ at the DayakDaily office here.
The minister further emphasised that the new tagline serves as a catchy promotional strategy.
“But we will still use ‘Sarawak More to Discover’,” Abdul Karim added.
Meanwhile, on medical tourism, Abdul Karim stated that Sarawak now has daily flights from Jakarta due to medical tourism.
“You can check those that come in (from Jakarta), a lot of them are because of medical tourism.
“They find Singapore, which used to be the hub, the place where a lot of Indonesians go (for medical tourism). They might not be going there anymore because of the exchange rate.
“But they see that the facilities that we are having down here, you need not have to go far,” he remarked, adding that if one were to sit in the lobby of one of the many private hospitals here and listen, it would feel like they were in Indonesia due to conversations in Indonesian being had all around them. — DayakDaily
