By Shikin Louis
KUCHING, Sept 12: Borderland Music Festival could follow the path of Belgium’s Tomorrowland and become a major music tourism draw for Sarawak, says Deputy Minister for Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Arts Datuk Snowdan Lawan.
Snowdan said the fourth edition of Borderland had shown strong potential to grow beyond a music festival for local audiences, with the event capable of drawing visitors from outside Sarawak in the future.
“I can see this becoming one of the new brands, apart from Rainforest World Music Festival (RWMF).
“It can become a branding in the future that brings in a lot of people, not only from Kuching or Sarawak, but people from outside of Kuching or outside of Sarawak to come for this event,” he told reporters after attending the first day of the festival held at Sarawak Cultural Village (SCV) last night.
He said Borderland’s organisers had a vision similar to Tomorrowland, one of the world’s best-known electronic dance music (EDM) festivals, which draws tens of thousands of visitors to Belgium.
“Just like Tomorrowland in Belgium, they have 20,000, 30,000 people coming, or even more, 50,000 people from all over the world. And that will boost the tourism automatically,” he said.
Snowdan said he was impressed by the turnout at Borderland’s opening night, with about 9,000 people attending despite it being only the first night.
He said tonight’s crowd could be even bigger as it falls on a Saturday, when more people are likely to be free from work and other weekday commitments.
“Last year, I was here also, and more than 12,000 people were here. So this is only the fourth year and you can see the response is so huge, especially among the young people,” he said.
He added that Borderland’s appeal was not limited to youths, as he also saw many professionals attending to enjoy EDM.
Snowdan also said the haze had not significantly affected the festival, noting that the Air Pollutant Index (API) in the Damai area was relatively low.
He said organisers had proceeded with the event after thousands of tickets had already been sold and supporters had urged them to continue.
Snowdan, who arrived at the festival at the last minute, said he decided to drop by after finishing a programme with the Education Department at Kuching Waterfront around 10pm to 10.30pm.
“I just wanted to come here and see for myself and experience this event, the success story of this event since last year,” he said.
Snowdan said he was proud to see young people organising an event of such scale, describing Borderland as a promising platform that could bring people together through music while contributing to Sarawak’s tourism industry. — DayakDaily
