02May

Sabah CM launches month-long Kaamatan festival

KENINGAU: The annual Kaamatan festival is a showcase of Sabah’s multi-ethnic community, which lives in peace and unity, Sabah Chief Minister Tan Sri Musa Aman said today. Celebrated mainly by the state’s Kadazandusun and Murut communities, the event is an expression of thanksgiving for the season’s crop harvest and an homage to the goddess Huminudon who sacrificed herself to save her people from famine. “This celebration also delivers the message of the importance (of being) thankful with what we have achieved (in terms of) stability, peace and prosperity, which we should (preserve). “Besides that, Kaamatan also gives the people an opportunity to better understand and respect customs and traditions of the Kadazandusun and Murut people, as well as other (groups),” he said during the launch of the month-long state-level Kaaamatan festival at Padang Bandaran here. Also present were Yang diPertua Negeri Tun Juhar Mahiruddin and wife Toh Puan Norlidah RM Jasni; deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Joseph Pairin Kitingan; and state secretary Tan Sri Sukarti Wakiman. Musa added that he hopes this year’s programme, themed “Kaamatan is the foundation of unity and friendship,” will foster better relationships among the people. Meanwhile, Pairin, who is also the Huguon Siou (or paramount leader of the Kadazandusun and Murut people), said that the festival is a platform for people to preserve traditions and customs passed down for generations. He added that society has to intensify efforts to transmit traditional knowledge and experiences to the younger generation. “Meanwhile, touching on the district’s (social and economic development), the state government always thinks of the best ways to help develop Keningau, especially its interior. “Keningau will be developed in stages according to current needs, until the district becomes one of the more important towns in Sabah,” Pairin added. With the launch of Visit Keningau Year 2018, the district has become a main tourist attraction and transit point for people and travellers from Sabah’s east coast. Source: New Straits Times
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30Apr

Poverty alleviation through rural tourism development

KOTA KINABALU: Over the years, Sabah has seen a growing number of homestays and camping grounds cropping up, overlooking scenic views of rivers, nature and mountains in the rural areas. Districts such as Kadamaian, Kiulu, Ranau, and Tambunan among others have become quaint destinations of choice for vacationers in search of the experience of living closer to nature. Nature-based activities such as hiking, trekking, water rafting, and even extreme sporting events have also increased following its popularity among travel adventure enthusiasts. Such eco-tourism potential has moved many rural villagers into taking the opportunity to generate income and create quality tourism products in line with the state government’s effort to develop rural tourism and elevate the people’s economic status. Prior to 2014, rural tourism development was not fully implemented throughout Sabah until Sabah Tourism Board (STB) chairman Datuk Joniston Bangkuai, in realising its potential, called on STB to look into the matter. A Rural Tourism Product Unit was setup immediately to identify potential rural tourism products and to encourage involvement of village community as well as local authority. This followed by activating the Tourism Action Council in all districts throughout the state. Small districts namely Kiulu in the Tuaran parliamentary constituency and Kadamaian in the Kota Belud parliamentary constituency were then chosen by STB management as two pioneer districts for rural tourism development. “The effort taken to introduce and develop rural tourism for two years has resulted in the implementation of Visit Kiulu Month (April 2017) and Visit Kadamaian Month (May 2017). “This 2017 visit month programme has significantly impacted the locals as the programme is able to promote the two districts locally and overseas. For example, the influx of tourist into Kiulu has provided direct profits to the villagers. “In both Kadamaian and Kiulu, the ‘lung washing’ activities such as hiking and trekking have successfully attracted local tourists and those from China, South Korea, and Europe,” said Joniston. This success has motivated villagers from other districts such as Tambunan, Kota Marudu, Tenom, Keningau, Kudat, and Ranau to follow the footsteps of implementing and developing rural tourism in their respective areas. During the 2017 visit month, Kadamaian recorded 90,000 tourist arrivals with RM900,000 in tourism revenue while Kiulu received 53,000 tourists with RM4.3 million in tourism income. Joniston hoped the target of 400,000 visitors and RM20 million tourism receipts could be generated through Sabah rural tourism, which comprises 25 districts, this year. “For STB, we will continue to promote and market rural tourism products and implement a strategic plan. STB will also continue to work with district tourism action council (in 25 districts) to bring Sabah’s rural tourism to the international level by 2025,” he stressed. As at January 2018, almost 98 per cent of District Tourism Action Council have been activated to bring tourism progress in rural districts throughout the state. Source: New Straits Times
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30Apr

Tourism boom in Sabah

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah has weathered many challenges to achieve outstanding performance in tourism, with its rich natural environment and cultural diversity as advantages to propel the industry. With aggressive promotion and the increase of flights into Sabah, tourist arrivals have continued to scale up over the past years since 2002 with only a slight drop in 2014. According to statistics from the Sabah Tourism Board, tourist arrivals in 2014 were recorded at 3,230,645, a 4.5 percent drop from 2013. However, tourist arrivals picked up the following years and have continued to grow. Last year’s tourist arrivals exceeded the 2016 influx, from 3,427,9,08 arrivals to 3,684,734. Tourism receipts have also increased from RM7.249 billion in 2016 to RM7.82 billion in 2017. As at January this year, Sabah recorded 312,670 visitors as compared to 294,557 tourists in the same month in the previous years. International and domestic tourists are expected to grow by year end. Sabah Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun said the tourism industry is unpredictable, especially when it is surrounded by “bad news”, which create perception among travellers. “Perception dictates travel patterns and decisions, and this makes the industry difficult to predict. You could be doing exceptionally well today and suddenly nosedive for no apparent and logical reason. The MH370 and the perennial kidnappings are good examples. “Sabah has weathered many challenges and we have done fairly well for the last five years, bearing in mind over 95 per cent of our visitors come in by air. “Air connectivity was our biggest challenge, having to convince foreign airlines to fly to Sabah and persevere long enough for them to earn reasonable profit from the flight sector. It’s purely a business decision for an airline to fly to Sabah,” he said. Today, there are 12 foreign airlines flying to Kota Kinabalu on scheduled flights from 16 foreign destinations with total flight frequencies of 183 per week. With additional 453 weekly domestic flight frequencies from outside Sabah, it has made Kota Kinabalu International Airport the second busiest airport in Malaysia after the Kuala Lumpur International Airport. Stressing that tourism is a competitive industry, Masidi said Sabah should take note of the aggressive tourism promotion in Vietnam, Cambodia, Philippines and Indonesia. He noted these countries would be Sabah’s biggest competitors in the future as they have many products, adding Indonesia, having thousands of islands, has the biggest potential to emerge as the most popular tourists’ destination in the South East Asia region. Speaking on Sabah’s rural tourism, Masidi stressed the rural community is a crucial component of the industry’s development to ensure tourism dollars are spread out. “Sabah’s rural areas especially in the West Coast are beautiful. These are the new tourism products that we are marketing to disperse the tourist crowds from the capital. There are few things that need to be done. “Access like roads to the rural areas need to be improved and upgraded. The rural community needs to be educated and trained on how to handle tourists,” he said. Source: New Straits Times
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30Apr

New opportunities in rural tourism

KOTA KINABALU: A dearth of lodging in remote Kiulu has driven 42-year-old Lasmen Lopuk to develop a homestay within his 0.8 hectare piece of land located at scenic Kampung Poturidong, about 50km away from the State capital. The idea came about during a family day event five years ago when he realised Kiulu, being a beautiful rural sub-district with potential in nature-based activities, lack accommodation for visitors wishing to spend the night. “I was toying with the idea because most visitors come to Kiulu for a picnic and some of them come from far, but they have no place to stay. In 2014, I started small by opening a space for camping ground. “We also provided camps for visitors, so they can experience Kiulu to the fullest. By 2015, I built four chalets with a kampung-style concept and since then, I have been receiving visitors almost every week,” said the owner of Kondis Point Homestay. Lasmen, from Kampung Poturidong, said homestays have existed in Kiulu since the 1990s but noted the operation was not very active back then. He said the homestay concept began to bloom in Kiulu from 2013, as villagers began grasping the opportunities after learning more on homestay and rural tourism development through courses or exhibitions. “As Sabah progresses in terms of urban development, it is also important to focus on developing rural districts through tourism. It is one of the ways to boost the villagers’ socio-economic development as it creates job opportunities. “Since opening my homestay, I have hired villagers to help look after the facilities. I have also noticed that with the presence of homestays in Kiulu, we have received thousands of visitors here,” he said. Lasmen, who used to be a driver and freelance tour guide, now works full-time as homestay operator, benefiting from the profits of tourism. He hoped the development of rural tourism in the state would be more vibrant in future with more villagers taking part in the positive progress. Currently, there are more than 30 homestays in Kiulu and the number is expected to grow. Source: New Straits Times
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26Apr

KK-Jakarta twice-weekly direct flight relaunched

KOTA KINABALU: The twice-weekly direct flight service between Kota Kinabalu and Jakarta operated by Batik Air was relaunched yesterday. The route which was inaugurated on Dec 20, 2017 is scheduled on Wednesday and Sunday, with departures from Jakarta via Soekarno-Hatta International Airport at 1am local time and arriving in Kota Kinabalu at 5am local time on a three-hour journey on board flight ID 7169. The returning flight from Kota Kinabalu will take off at 6am local time and arrive in Jakarta at 7.55am local time using flight ID 7168. Kota Kinabalu is one-hour ahead of Jakarta. “The Kota Kinabalu-Jakarta route was launched by Batik Air after AirAsia ceased its operation in Jan 2017, but many people are still unaware of the services provided by Batik Air. They boarded other airlines before transiting to Jakarta which is time consuming and not economical,” said Consul General of Indonesia in Kota Kinabalu, Krishna Djelani during the relaunching ceremony at Kota Kinabalu International Airport (KKIA) here yesterday. “The direct flights will play a key part in boosting the economy of both sides particularly in trade, investment and tourism as it will reduce our travelling time and cost saving,” said Krishna. “It will also connect the people and the business community,” he added. Over time, he believes the airfares could be made affordable when more people are using the direct flights between Kota Kinabalu and Jakarta when the passengers load factor becomes encouraging. “We are also hoping to promote Kota Kinabalu as a tourism hub for the Chinese tourists to visit Manado in North Sulawesi which is a popular spot for its beautiful beaches and scuba diving activities. We can create a duel package for the benefit of both sides,” said Krishna, adding that the proposal is expect to be launched in July this year. He said the aspiration to explore the beauty of Manado was highlighted by Indonesia Ambassador to Malaysia Rusdi Kirana during the 3nd Indonesia Investment Forum on April 18 this year in Kuala Lumpur. He said Rusdi also held a discussion to foster the tourism sector between Sabah and Indonesia with Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Seri Panglima Masidi Manjun during his working visit to Kota Kinabalu in Sept 2017. Besides that, Krishna disclosed they are also mulling with the plan to introduce the direct flights between Kota Kinabalu and Balikpapan, Kalimantan to provide a nearer alternative for passengers to transit to other destinations in Indonesia especially its eastern part. “Balikpapan which is a two-hour flight from Kota Kinabalu has the second largest international airport in Indonesia after Jakarta which is now congested,” he said. Its consul for economy, Hendro Retno Wulan said they are working closely with the Sabah Tourism Board to promote the Kota Kinabalu-Jakarta sector via the social media to raise public awareness and improve the passengers load. “We encourage the people here to support the flights because when the demand is good the airline could offer affordable airfares,” she said. Malindo Air regional manager (Sabah-Sarawak) Wilfred Wong revealed: “To date, they are enjoying about 70-80 per cent of the passengers load between the Jakarta and Kota Kinabalu route. We hope this route will not only stimulate the movement of passengers but also the economic growth from tourism and other logistics.” “We are also happy to accommodate the needs of customers for business travel, tourism promotion, family vacation, medical treatment and pursuing education through this route,” said Wilfred. He said the Lion Air Group is also opening new routes from Indonesia to Malaysia such as its Wings Air flying from Pontianak to Kuching and Miri, while Malindo Air is servicing Banda Aceh to Penang and Medan to Ipoh. Source: New Sabah Times
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