by Wilfred Pilo
KUCHING, April 23: The total number of visitors in Sarawak for March 2023 was 323,960, a strong rebound of 272.88 per cent from the 86,881 visitors recorded over the corresponding period in 2022, says Minister of Tourism, Creative Industry, And Performing Arts Dato Sri Abdul Karim Hamzah.
“In March, the number of foreigners alone in 2023 was 168,627 as compared to 2022, where it was only 3,959 visitors. There’s growth of 4,159.33 per cent. It is a huge jump,” he said.
“As for domestic travellers, the number who came in for 2023 is 155,333 compared to 2022 with a figure of 82,922 and growth of 87.32 per cent.”
He told reporters this when met at his Hari Raya Aidilfitri open house at his residence along Jalan Istana today.
Abdul Karim elaborated that the tourism receipts for March alone in 2023 totalled RM817.75 million, compared to the corresponding period, in 2022 which was RM195.54 million.
“That is a jump of 318.20 per cent,” he revealed.
“From January to March, for foreigners alone in 2023, the figure is 496,636 and in 2022, it was only 10,563. As for local visitors in 2023, the figure is 427,361, and in 2022, the figure was 219,115. So there’s a growth of 95.04 per cent,” he said.
Abdul Karim is optimistic that Sarawak is on track to hit its target of 3 million visitors this year.
“By December, I would not be surprised if we might even hit 4 million, and we will exceed the target by 1 million visitors.
“We are very confident of that because January, February and March are normally slow months, but by June, that’s where events like the Rainforest World Music Festival (RWMF) starts, and that is when you get the high numbers. You never know, we might even hit 4.5 million visitors this year,” he said. — DayakDaily
