By Ashley Sim
KUCHING, Feb 21: Sarawak Minister for Tourism, Creative Industry, and Performing Arts (MTCP) Dato Sri Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah reveals that Sarawak has recorded a total of 319,064 visitor arrivals as of January this year, which sees a staggering 453.62 per cent increase compared to the same period last year.
Abdul Karim stated this following the launch of the Borneo International Garden Expo Sarawak (BIGEXS) 2023 today at the Borneo Convention Centre Kuching (BCCK) here.
According to him, Sarawak received 172,983 foreign visitors and 146,081 domestic visitors as of January 2023, compared to 3,468 foreign visitors and 68,863 domestic visitors in January 2022.
“In terms of Sarawak Tourism Receipts, for January 2023, the tourism receipts we generated were estimated to be RM809.37 million, as compared to January 2022, the tourism receipts were RM162.89 million. So there is a growth of 396.88 per cent,” he disclosed, adding that the largest number of foreign arrivals registered in January 2023 were from Brunei (104,653), followed by Indonesia (44,090), Singapore (4,703), the Philippines (2,975) and China (1,900).
“The number of visitors from China is still relatively low, and as you all know, visitors from China are still facing problems from going out of Mainland China.
“But we will see in the next few months; there will be an upsurge of visitors from China,” he said.
Furthermore, Abdul Karim noted that it is a good indicator as it exceeds the region’s expectations.
“With these visitor arrivals in January 2023, which is above the average visitor arrivals of 250,000 that we estimated, it has reached a total of 319,064, so I hope this will continue, and looking at the types of events that we will hold this year, I am quite confident that we will exceed three million visitor arrivals,” he noted, adding that before the Covid-19 pandemic, Sarawak registered 4.6 million visitor arrivals in 2019.
He went on to say that Sarawak’s target for visitor arrivals in 2020 was five million but that the pandemic had impacted it.
Additionally, Abdul Karim, who is also the Sarawak Minister for Youth, Sports, and Entrepreneur Development (MYSED), attributed the increase in visitor arrivals to the fact that Sarawak is a safe place to visit, as well as the promotion of Sarawak as a destination renowned for its biodiversity and green environment.
“We are also promoting ourselves worldwide, and this year we plan to attend ITB Berlin between March 4 and March 13, 2023.
“For ITB Berlin, we used to be under the Malaysian pavilion, but this year will be the first time Sarawak has its own pavilion, demonstrating how aggressive we are in capturing the European market, as ITB Berlin is the world’s second-largest tourism market,” he added. — DayakDaily
