Tag - Tourism

Kota Kinabalu: A first ever executive conference known as Asean Forum of 10 C's themed "Bringing Business Together", to be participated by about 200 senior management personnel and entrepreneurs, will be held here next month. Borneo Summit is organising the event exclusively for senior managers like Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Chief Operating Officer (COO) and Chief Financial Officer (CFO), among others. Its organising chairperson Beh Soo Lang said the event, which will cover various business topics, including technology and business management, will be held at Pacific Sutera Hotel on Nov 28-29. She said it is best designed for all CEOs, directors, general managers, senior and executive managers from private and government sectors. She said 80 per cent of the participants are Malaysians and the remainder from the Asean region. "We have invited well-known speakers and experts from the peninsula and Singapore to deliver talks on their respective fields in the event. "We are working together with Sabah Museum and Tourism, Culture and Environment Ministry to promote Borneo to our foreign participants. "Hence, they will be treated to a city tour and a tour to Sabah Museum to be exposed to our history and culture on the third day before they leave Sabah," Beh said in a press conference at Sabah Museum, here, Wednesday. Sabah Museum Director Joanna Kitingan was also present in the event. Beh said the conference aims to achieve its main objectives of being a platform for potential business opportunities in Borneo, Malaysia and Asean, providing networking opportunities and knowledge sharing among business professionals and updating latest information on technologies for business improvement, among others. Meanwhile, Joanna said they will give a special guided tour of the Sabah Museum. She said the foreign participants will be entertained with special traditional dancing demonstrations and musical bamboo entertainment as well have the chance to see demonstrations on the making of beads and crafts. Source: Daily Express

KOTA KINABALU: The Sabah tourism industry will be further boosted with the launch of the Sabah – Best of Borneo Holiday Packages, yesterday. A combination of 35 holiday packages under 14 themes, it is the first of its kind in Malaysia, which was created by 17 tour operators to cater to every interest and all age groups. Ranging from day-trips to four-days/three-nights tour, all packages are inclusive of accommodation, meals and guided tour. Tourism Malaysia deputy chairperson Senator Datuk Maznah Mazlan, when launching the tour packages, believed that it would help ensure the country’s tourism would continue to prosper. “The tourism industry not only contributes to the national Growth Domestic Product (GDP) but also inculcates the spirit of patriotism, as well as strengthens the racial unity among the public,” she said, adding that Malaysia was the 10th most visited country in the world in 2012. She added that it was important to observe the caring capacity as for some destinations, it could only take a certain number of people due to its facility or fragility of the environment. Sabah Tourism Board chairman Datuk Joniston Bangkuai said the issue was also something that was being looked into seriously by the state government and discussion had been done on the matter. “The state government is taking the necessary action so that there is a balance to it… we are very concerned on this,” he said. Meanwhile, Maznah said under the Economic Transformation Plan, they were asked to think outside the box by applying the Blue Ocean Strategy. “So that means we have to be creative when coming up with new tour packages,” she said. For over a decade, Sabah has been enjoying a double-digit growth annually and that the state’s total tourist arrivals have increased five-folds from about 500,000 in 2000 to over 2.5 million in 2010. Last year, tourist arrivals to Sabah reached 2.87 million of which 65 per cent domestic and the rest international, contributing RM5.1 billion to Sabah’s economy. The tourism growth continued this year where the first seven months, a total of 1,838,295 tourists visited the state, which signified an increase of 13.5 per cent, compared to the same period last year. This year the state is targeting 3.01 million tourist arrivals and RM5.4 billion in receipts. The newly launched holiday packages come in time as Malaysia will be celebrating its fourth Visit Malaysia Year (VMY) next year. It is set to promote the country internationally and highlight various pro-active initiatives by the Tourism Ministry and Tourism Malaysia. Many fascinating events and festivals have been lined up throughout the year; where some of the major events will take place in Sabah such as the Mount Kinabalu International Climbathon, Kudat Sunset Music Festival, Sabah Fest and the Paragliding Accuracy World Cup. On the holiday packages, it is well prepared to suit the people’s interest, such as for those who love cooking, they may opt for the Let’s Main Masak-Masak with Hajah Limah tour package to learn Malaysian dishes using local ingredients and herbs, or the Mystical Land Below The Wind in search of the supernatural belief, ancient rites and spiritual realm. For the photography and nature enthusiasts, A Journey Thru My Lens package suits them well as they would get up close with the abundant and exotic wildlife in Kinabatangan such as the endangered Borneon Pygmy elephants and Proboscis Monkeys. These tour packages will be promoted through websites, online social media, email blasts and brochures at Tourism Malaysia state and overseas offices. Also present was MATTA vice-president (Inbound) K L Tan. Source: Borneo Post

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah needs a monthly average of 210,147 visitors for the next 4 months (September to December) in order to achieve the 3 million visitor arrivals target set for 2013. As of August, Sabah has achieved 72 per cent of the target. Assistant Minister of Tourism, Culture and Environment, Datuk Pang Yuk Ming said the North Asia market, namely China and Hong Kong, South Korea, Japan and  Taiwan continued  to be the largest source of international arrivals, accounting for 51.2 per cent of total international arrivals (733,700)  to the State. “China and Hong Kong leads the Asian growth with 86.8 per cent growth during Jan-Aug 2013, representing 33.7 per cent of total international arrivals. “Meanwhile, the Oceania market continued to show strong growth at eight per cent. The government anticipates arrivals to continue growing with the positive news from Malaysia Airlines (MAS) to increase the Kota Kinabalu-Perth flight from one to two flights per week,” he said when representing Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun at the launching of the SATTA Fair and SFHTEX Sabah Food, Hospitality and Tourism Exhibition 2013 at Sabah Trade Centre, yesterday. He said the tourism industry was extremely important to Sabah and its economy. These sectors have transformed significantly over the past decade to meet growing demand while maintaining quality. For the past eight months this year, tourism has grown tremendously. The grand total nett arrivals recorded double digit growth of 15.3 per cent with 2,159,411 against 1,873,507 in 2012. “We anticipate the travel demand from China and Hong Kong to show significant increase in the next few months, especially after the much anticipated visit of the Chinese premier to Sabah, which will boost the destination branding as a holiday destination in this region,” he said. Pang added China and Hong Kong alone increased by 86.8 per cent from 132,377 to 247,273 from January to August this year compared to the same period last year. According to statistics from Sabah Tourism Board (up to August), domestic arrivals continued to register double digit growth of 14.6 per cent, driven by strong travel demand during the Hari Raya holidays. Domestic arrivals are expected to register further growth with the new service by Air Asia for the Kota Bahru – Kota Kinabalu route which is set to commence on 16 November. Meanwhile, European arrivals registered a marginal decrease of 0.6 per cent during the first eight months of 2013, after two consecutive single-month drops in July (-13.1 per cent) and August (-16.4 per cent). It is noted that the European arrivals via the Kuala Lumpur hub and other domestic flights registered decreases of 22.4 per cent and 30.5 per cent during July and August. During the speech, Pang also called on all tour operators to bring their guests to the exhibition which is held from 11 – 13 October, as the exhibition is offering a fabulous assortment of great holiday travel packages, as well as an exciting array of Malaysian multinational food and beverages. There are about 85 exhibition booths ranging from food, hospitality and tourism academy, health foods, financial services, airline services, hotel and restaurants, art gallery, kitchen tools, telecommunication services, spa services, beauty products, hospitality furniture, vacation club memberships, hotel services, frozen foods, local produce, bird’s nest, local wine, handicrafts, traditional costumes and restaurant services. Also present at the event were chairman of Sabah Association of Tours and Travel Agents (SATTA) Datuk Seri Winston Liaw, Head of Retail Distribution AmBank (M) Berhad Suraya Hassan, organizing chairperson Datuk Adeline Leong and co-organiser chairperson Dolly Jimayol. Source: Borneo Post