09Aug

Moginakan Fest unites the people

RANAU: The Moginakan Festival is a platform of harmony and unity for the people, asserted Assistant Minister Local Government and Housing Datuk Joachim Gunsalam. “I feel grateful to see the presence of various parties and the people who are looking forward to this festival because this cultural celebration is uniting us,” he said. Moginakan refers to the annual Reunion Festival of the great multi ethnic Kadazan Dusun family, while calling to ancestral spirits and souls of all departed, said Joachim during the closing ceremony of the Moginakan Festival at Nunuk Ragang Hall here recently. “This is an example of harmonious and pluralistic society which should be celebrated by all parties’ regardless the political boundaries. “It teaches us the importance of unity as the foundation to strengthen the harmony of our rich ethnic and cultural diversity.” He said Moginakan is a time to meet friends and celebrate the festival together even though this is a Merdeka month. “And the presence of visitors have also proved how strong the spirit of brotherhood, friendship, sense of belonging and unity that has become a culture and daily life befitting the spirit of “NEGARAKU” and the theme of “MOGINAKAN” ,” enthused Joachim. He believed the involvement and commitment of all people especially the Kadazandusun Culture Association of Ranau(KDCA) in making the celebration a success through the display of traditional costumes, cuisines, “Rombituon” competition (singing competition) and others have strengthened the sense of belonging and friendship as well as allows us to understand the heritage of a race. He urged the people to always be with the government for the welfare and progress of the state. “Let’s support the government in order to build and develop the country and state successfully” called Joachim. “We need all the ethnics to stay united to develop Sabah because no one can do it alone,” he said. Meanwhile, Joachim also announced that the KDCA President Tan Sri Joseph Pairin Kitingan will allocate RM10,000 to KDCA Ranau to do the rewiring work of the Nunuk Ragang building in response to a request. Source: New Sabah Times
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09Aug

Digital marketing – a must have for travel and tourism

KOTA KINABALU: Digital marketing has become the most important tool for any travel and tourism businesses. A digital marketing expert, Dr Frank J Peter said that hospitality and tourism is one of the industries that are greatly impacted by digital advancement. Thus, to perform well and gain competitive advantage, players in the related industry are always looking for the newest and greatest way to reach their customer personas and enhance offering to their target audience. Peter who is sharing his knowledge at the ‘Digital Marketing for Hospitality and Tourism’ course here yesterday, believed that digital marketing is both art and science, from communicating the right massage to utilising the right tools and formulas. “Using the right platform is essential but it is not achieved by merely spending time and money on any popular platforms but to carefully evaluate and assess what is the best for your industry and specifically to your market segment. “With digital marketing, consumer data can be collected from various sources from endless platform and the ability to diligently optimise this data can improve revenue significantly. From gaining new customers to customising an actual experience for them: digital marketing can do wonders for the industry, he said. During the three-day course, Peter who is also a Google educator and associate faculty at the University Utara Malaysia’s Graduate Business School, shared interesting topics such as ‘Digital Marketing Strategy’, ‘Website Marketing: Content Planning, Website Review + Measurement’, ‘Social Media: Strategy’, ‘Customer Advocacy, Online Reputation Management + Digital Visitor Servicing’, ‘Email Marketing’, and ‘Online Advertising: Facebook, Adwords, Instagram’. More than 30 participants from local and international travel and tourism industry including Sabah Tourism Board, Shangri-La Tanjung Aru Hotel and Resort, Borneo Nature and Resort, Financial Park Labuan, Promenade Hotel, Sutera Harbour Resort, Hyatt Hotel, Sabah Tea Resort, Amazing Borneo and OTCINC Brunei attended. Meanwhile, Sabah Tourism has also placed emphasis on moving toward digital marketing efforts due to the rise in internet bookings and frequent travellers. “It is undeniably the channel is easier to reach new travellers. These days you will even find seniors making bookings online,” said its marketing manager, Cassie Forsythe adding that the training is relevant to officers as they begin to pursue this while working close with industry players. Australia is currently running a GoogleAdWords campaign and concurrently a destination awareness campaign on TripAdvisor UK, US, Germany and Australia. The course organiser, a regional training provider, CF Learning Services (Corporate Frontier) hopes that participants will learn how to make their organisations future proof in the online world. According to its founder, Grace Chin, CF Learning Services understands that digital marketing is crucial for the hospitality and tourism businesses in Sabah. She said that potential travellers are spending more time online, researching destinations and deals. “To reach these prospects at the right time, digital marketing has become a vital tool for modern hospitality and tourism businesses. “And, to get ahead and obtain a competitive advantage over their rivals, players in the hospitality and tourism industry need to adapt to and embrace new trends and changes in the digital marketing landscape, or they get left behind. “We hope that the industry players will take this opportunity to acquire the knowledge on how to implement Digital Marketing and increase their profitability. On the other hand, World Bank revealed that online hotel bookings in Malaysia are expected to grow at an annual rate of 14.6 per cent from 2017 to 2121, to an expected market volume of some RM5 billion in 2121. And, this is purely for online bookings, so any hotel or tourism business that is not online optimised runs the risk of not getting a slice of this pie. Source: New Sabah Times
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09Aug

Ranau’s Arnab Village: Young entrepreneur turns hobby into successful business venture

KOTA KINABALU, Aug 8 — The Arnab Village in Kampung Purakagis, Ranau located about 104km from here, has generated RM300,000 in revenue through ticket sales after a year of operation. The new tourism product in Ranau which is operated by Jubair Juhinin, a graduate of Aquaculture Science from the University Malaysia Sabah (UMS), has become one of the tourist destinations in the district, besides the Mount of Kinabalu, Sabah Tea Garden, Poring Hot Spring and the Tagal Sungai Moroli in Kampung Luanti. Jubair, 27, told Bernama he had never expected his hobby of keeping rabbits would turn into a business in the rural tourism industry in Sabah which promised a bright future. Although the business started with less than RM5,000, with minimum facilities and environmental landscapes, he was optimistic the tourism product which was developed on a 0.2 hectare land would bring good returns. Now, upgrading works are underway gradually at the Arnab Village for visitor convenience. “The upgrading works include public facilities such as toilets, garden expansion, rabbit stables and building a souvenir shop. While for the third phase of development, we will focus on building restaurants and accessory shops. “Besides that, we will build shop lots around villages to be rented by traders to sell craft products, food or related products to help them in generating income,” he said here yesterday. Jubair was met by Bernama at the Sabah Rural Tourism Roadshow programme organised by the Sabah Tourism Board. The three-day event started last Friday aimed at showcasing Sabah’s rural based tourism products to tourism industry players and the public at large, besides leveraging the expertise and know-how of industry players in packaging and promoting rural tourism experience to the domestic and international markets. Furthermore, the young entrepreneur said there were 400 rabbits of eight species namely, New Zealand White; Standard Rex; Mini Satin; Lion Head; Netherland Dwarf; Lop Ear; Anggora; and Local Breed, that were released to roam around in a fenced area to enable visitors to take photos and videos of the animal. Jubair said he aimed to keep about 1,000 rabbits at the garden early next year. “For the second year, we aim to attract more visitors with revenue of RM500,000 through ticket sales,” he added. Therefore, he said the Sabah Rural Tourism Roadshow programme had opened an opportunity for him and his team to expand networking. Admission ticket to the Arnab Village for locals is RM3 (children) and RM5 (adult); while for international visitors RM5 (children) and RM10 (adult) The Arnab Village, the first such tourism product in Sabah is open daily from 9am to 5pm.  — Bernama Source: Malay Mail Online
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09Aug

Class 1 Forest Reserves increased

THE Class 1 Forest Reserves (Protection) in Sabah has been increased by a further 2.43 percent from 1,353,677.66 hectares to 1,386,614.62 hectares following the amendment to the Forests (Constitution of Forest Reserves and Amendment) (Amendment) 2017 by the State Legislative Assembly yesterday. “The total State Forest Reserves after the dissolution, establishment and reclassification of forest reserves is 3,540,748.874 hectares which constitute an increase of about 474.66 hectares or 0.013 percent as compared to the year 2016,” said Assistant Minister to the Chief Minister, Datuk Ellron Angin when presenting the bill at the August House yesterday. He also said that following the re-classification and establishment of the forest reserves, the Totally Protected Area (TPA) in Sabah had increased to 25.9 percent or 1,906,896.204 hectares as compared to only 1,874,061.544 hectares (25.46 percent) in 2016. The enactment will come into operation on January 1, next year. Ellron added that he was confident the government will be able to achieve 30 percent of TPAs by the year 2025 as planned. Nevertheless, Class II Forest Reserves (Commercial) have decreased from 1,668,272.95 hectares to 1,659,899.95 hectares. Also reduced was the Class III Forest Reserves (Domestic) which went down from 4,673 hectares to 4,656 hectares following the amendment as well as the Class V Forest Reserves (Mangrove) from 256,009.27 hectares to 232,039.29 hectares and the Class VI Forest Reserves (Virgin Jungle Reserve or VJR) which was decreased from 107,013.914 hectares to 106,911.614 hectares. Following the amendment, five forest reserves covering 4,592 hectares were abolished while nine forest reserves covering 5,066.66 hectares were established. At the same time, two Class II forest reserves (Commercial) of about 8,539 hectares and five Class V Forest Reserves (Mangrove) of about 23,970 hectares were reclassified to Class I Forest Reserves (Protection), he said. Following the amendment, a total of eight hectares of the Leila Forest Reserve Class I are to be excised for a church and dam that existed before World War I and a total of 1,446 hectares of the Sugut Forest Reserve Class I are also to be excised for land swap for the existing titled lands. It was mentioned that the areas were important for wildlife corridor. Also excised was the 3,000 hectares of the Sg Mangkuwagu Forest Reserve Class II  for village purposes as well as 17 hectares of the Tatahan Forest Reserve Class III for government purposes. The 121 hectares of the Malawaring Forest Reserve Class VI was also excised for village purposes. Meanwhile, about 481 hectares of forests in Tenom will be constituted as Forest Reserve Class I and will be named as Gn. Lumaku Forest Reserve (Extension) Class I. According to Ellron, the areas were important as water catchments. Similarly, another 63.90 hectares of forests in Kalabakan would be constituted as Forest Reserve Class I and will be named as Mount Louisa Forest Reserve (Extension II) Class I as they had high conservation value. Another 478 hectares of forests in Nabawan will also be constituted as Forest Reserve Class I and will be named as Sungai Sebungali Forest Reserve Class I as they also have high conservation values and served as water catchment area. Also constituted as Forest Reserve Class I are the 37 hectares of forests in Tongod to be named Gunung Tinkar Forest Reserve (Extension) Class I; the 635.37 hectares of proposed water catchment area of Kolosunan, Inanam which will be named Kolosunan Forest Reserve Class I which was the only water source for the Babagon Dam; the 26.3 hectares of state land in Bukit Hampuan, Ranau which will be named Bukit Hampuan Forest Reserve (Extension II) Class I for its high conservation value and habitat for butterfly species endemic to the area; and 160.39 hectares of water catchment area of Pulau Sebatik in Tawau which will be named Pulau Sebatik Forest Reserve Class I. The 3,166 hectares of Temporary Occupation License (TOL) will be constituted as Forest Reserve Class II and to be named as Lalampas Forest Reserve Class II while the 5,335 hectares of Sg Magkuwagu Forest Reserve Class II will be reclassified as Forest Reserve Class I and to be renamed as Sungai Mangkuwagu Forest Reserve Class I as the area has high conservation value. Also reclassified were the 3,204 hectares of the Sg Pinangah Forest Reserve Class II which was reclassified as Forest Reserve Class I and to be renamed as Sungai Imbak Buffer Zone forest Reserve (Extension II) Class I and the 3,867 hectares of the Menumbok Forest Reserve Class V which was reclassified as Forest Reserve Class I and to be renamed as Menumbok Forest Reserve Class I. Source: The Borneo Post
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08Aug

Sabah to host national Indigenous Peoples Day celebration

Kota Kinabalu: Indigenous groups in the country will be celebrating the annual International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples next week amid many issues of violations of their rights. Sabah will play host to this year's national level celebration at Dewan Solidariti Keuskupan Keningau, carrying the theme "A Decade of Indigenous Peoples' Struggles." This year's celebration marks the 10th anniversary of the adoption of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) by the UN General Assembly. Malaysia is among 144 countries that voted in favour of the declaration. As a signatory, the Government has the moral obligation to reinforce the rights and privileges of indigenous peoples as stated in the declaration. But according to the event organiser, the Malaysian Indigenous Peoples Network (JOAS), indigenous communities in the country continue to see gaps between the contents of the declaration and government policies and their implementations. The umbrella body made up of 87 indigenous grassroots organisations said in a statement that indigenous communities in the country still feel their rights as enshrined in the declaration are not being recognised. It pointed out that encroachments into indigenous lands by private companies and government agencies in the three regions as among the major problems faced by communities. It cited cases of land grabbing in the Orang Asli territories in Peninsular Malaysia by timber companies and the Federal Court ruling that the native custom of 'pemakai menoa' (territorial domain) and 'pulau galau' (communal forest reserve) had no force of law in Sarawak as among the recent developments which indigenous communities interpret as a violation of their rights. It appealed to the Government to show more commitment in fulfilling their responsibility as a signatory of the declaration while at the same time asking to be given the chance to work together for the benefit of all indigenous peoples in the country. Indigenous people make only 13 per cent of Malaysia's total population of 31 million. - Leonard Alaza Source: Daily Express
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