By Brandon Wong
SIBU, March 27: Sarawak is confident of attracting at least five million tourists to its shores this year, if the January figure can be used as an indicator.
Sarawak Tourism Board (STB) chief executive officer Sharzede Salleh Askor said the state welcomed 361,334 visitors in January this year, of which 145,447 were from the peninsula. This figure represents a 68.7 per cent jump as compared to the same period last year.
“We expect the lean period of arrivals in February, due to the festive season, will also reflect better results this year,” she said at the launching of a partnership with Sibu taxis as part of the ‘Visit Sarawak Campaign’ here today.
Present were Sarawak Tourism Board chairman Datuk Abdul Wahab Aziz, Sibu Municipal Council chairman Datuk Tiong Thai King and Sibu Resident Charles Siaw.
The taxis here are now adorned with stickers and decals in line with the campaign to help promote the state.
“We are excited about this partnership, and we look forward to seeing the flag-off of the first Sibu taxi spotting our VSC stickers and bearing our campaign logo cruising the city areas promoting the campaign,” she said before the flag-off.
This sticker campaign is just one of the many steps that STB have taken to push the Sarawak Brand globally. Besides the recent aircraft livery and advertising panels inside the cabin of aeroplanes, including overhead lockers and on meal trays, the campaign materials are also on LED billboards throughout Peninsular Malaysia, particularly in the Klang Valley, Penang, Johor Bahru, Ipoh and Terengganu.
As for the taxis, the QR code on the stickers will lead tech-savvy tourists and passengers to the STB website, which serves as the main source of information for those visiting the state.
STB wants to use this e-platform to share Sarawak’s beautiful culture, adventure, nature, food and festival attractions with visitors, said Sharzede.
All of these campaigns will spread Sarawak’s branding and name all over the world. — DayakDaily
