By Malcolm Lau
KUCHING, Dec 10: Sarawak tourism will be taking the next step into digital media advancement with a soon-to-be-launched travel app for tourists to Sarawak.
Jointly developed by the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture and Sarawak Multimedia Authority (SMA), the app will allow domestic and international tourists easy access to authentic contents of Sarawak’s unique selling points of culture, adventure, nature festivals.
“My Ministry and its agencies have embarked on digital journey by participating in marketing and promoting tourism through various media platforms,” said Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah during the launching of Regional Tourism Satellite Account Sarawak this morning.
He pointed out that the application will have Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality(VR) features so that the application will be more interactive and interesting for visitors.
“I thank the Immigration Department for helping the ministry gather and compile visitors arrival data and the Immigration Department’s role is vital in ensuring accurate data on visitors arrival.
“I would like to urge the Immigration Department to try to revive earlier initiatives of Visitors Disembarkation/Embarkation Card/Forms which will capture visitors’ information such as the purpose of visit, accommodation and length of stay,” Abdul Karim added, explaining that the information collected would be useful for the government and the Ministry of Home Affairs should look into the implementation of Electronic Arrival Cards.
“This ECT (Electronic Card Transaction) system can combine data with modern databases and analytical technology to measure the pattern in the expenditure of both international and domestic tourists in Sarawak by region and industry,” said Abdul Karim.
He also said that this system would be able to trace the preferred location from tourists, items purchased and other activities and will continue to work with Bank Negara, the Department of Statistics and Tourism Malaysia on this ECT collaboration and implementation for Sarawak. —DayakDaily
