All information of tourism sabah

01Oct

Sabah can expect more tourists from NZ

Kota Kinabalu: The arrival of New Zeland tourists to Sabah that now stands at 10,000 yearly is expected to increase once a proposed arrangement on Indigenous Cooperation between the New Zealand High Commission and Sabah takes shape. State Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Christina Liew said her Ministry and others would be working on the matter. "Hopefully, the memorandum will materialise this year. The bilateral relations between New Zealand and Sabah will be rekindled and move a step further, especially in tourism. "I am optimistic it will boost tourist arrivals from New Zealand," said Liew, who is also a Deputy Chief Minister, after a courtesy call by NZ Acting High Commissioner Richard Mann, Wednesday. She invited Mann, who was on his maiden visit to Sabah, to visit Sandakan in the near future. Mann said New Zealand has a special relationship with Sabah and Sarawak based on educational needs and also indigenous peoples who have strong connections with the Maoris of New Zealand. "The Minister of Maori Affairs was here last year, so we are focusing a lot on developing indigenous people's links between New Zealand and Sabah and Sarawak. "That (courtesy call) was a wonderful meeting with the Minister, and I think we found a lot in common and a lot of interest in working together and going forward," he said. According to Mann, the objective of the Memorandum is to provide a framework for cooperation between New Zealand and Sabah on indigenous issues and between indigenous peoples in the areas of language and culture, trade and business, education, tourism, indigenous policy and legislative developments, environment and justice, on the basis of mutual benefit. Liew directed her Permanent Secretary Datu Rosmadi Datu Sulai to liaise with the Ministry of Education and Innovation, Ministry of Trade and Industry and Ministry of Law and Native Affairs in working towards the realisation of the Memorandum. Also present were the Ministry's Assistant Secretary (Cultural), Tinus Manggam, Director of Sabah Wildlife Department, Augustine Tuuga, Director of Environment Protection Department, Hj Mohd Yusrie Abdullah and Sabah Tourism Board Cassie Forsythe.   Source: Daily Express
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01Oct

China airline begins Shenzhen-KK flight

KOTA KINABALU: China Southern Airlines started its flight connecting Shenzhen to Kota Kinabalu at 1.40am today (Sept 29). According to Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Christina Liew, the airline, which is Asia’s largest and the world’s fourth largest, will fly on all days except Wednesdays. “With this additional connectivity, there will now be a total of 98 weekly flights direct from a total of 10 major and secondary cities in China to Kota Kinabalu International Airport (KKIA),” she said during a press conference at her office yesterday. She added that the flight would be the airlines’ second connection to Kota Kinabalu after successfully connecting KKIA to Guangzhou and also Sabah’s second connection to Shenzhen. She said that in less than three years, China Southern Airlines had increased its flights from three to 21 weekly from China to Kota Kinabalu, which is almost one-fifth of the total flights from China to Kota Kinabalu. She said this signified strong confidence in the destination. Christina also congratulated the airline for upgrading its aircraft from A320 to A321 for the first five flights due to highly encouraging response during the opening sales of the route in mid-August and reaching over 90 percent of the A320’s capacity. “The decision to increase the seat capacity with a bigger aircraft would bring additional 200 passengers in the first five flights,” she said. She said as of July this year, the total arrivals to Sabah had increased by 5.3 percent or 2.221 million compared to the same period last year. She said 43.3 percent or at least 358,000 of these arrivals were from China, making the country the largest market source for arrivals to Sabah. “We hope to achieve 500,000 China arrivals by the end of the year,” she said. Up to July, Sabah Tourism has estimated that the total tourism receipts have reached RM4.81 billion or eight percent more compared to the same period last year. Christina said Sabah was on track to reach the RM8 billion revenue from tourism by the end of the year. She also iterated that her ministry aims to re-emphasize tourism in the east coast, especially in Tawau and in Sandakan. “These are Sabah’s second and third largest cities with equal, if not more potential for tourism. Most of the attractions there are unique to the east coast and not found in the west coast. It is also our aim that the community there are prepared to re-embrace tourism especially now in this digital era,” she said. China Southern Airlines (Malaysia) general manager Eric Wang said they would study and conduct a marketing research on Sandakan and Tawau as destinations and make a proposal to the airlines’ headquarters. Also present was the People’s Republic of China in Kota Kinabalu Consul General Liang Caide.   Source: Borneo Post Online
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27Sep

Beijing group keen on investing RM2b in Sabah: CM

Kota Kinabalu: A group of Chinese investors have expressed interest to pump not less than RM2 billion in a particular sector in Sabah. Chief Minister, Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal, who disclosed this, said this would not only create some 3,000 job opportunities for Sabahans but also many spin-offs. The group concerned expressed this to him when they met earlier, Wednesday, he said, adding the State Government has received other enquiries as well. "The Consulate General of China in Kota Kinabalu is playing an important role and has done a lot of work in promoting China-Sabah friendship and cooperation in various fields. "The Consul General is very diligent and very popular among the people of Sabah," he said at a ceremony to celebrate the 69th Anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China at Pacific Sutera. Mohd Shafie said the State Government is willing to maintain communication and cooperation with the Consulate to jointly promote the friendship between China and Sabah. "We are also willing to provide assistance to the work of the Consulate, including extending assistance and facilities that the Consulate needs when providing consular protection to Chinese citizens. "It must be noted that Sabah has become a favoured destination to China tourists – we have the sun, sea and the beach as well as different types of food that are enjoyed by the Chinese," he said. In his hometown Semporna alone, Mohd Shafie said hundreds of Chinese tourists are there daily. He said the Warisan-led State Government is willing to make better use of the "Belt and Road Initiative" to strengthen cooperation with China in various fields such as infrastructure, agriculture, forestry, fisheries and tourism. "The agreements related to durian, rubber and palm oil signed during the Prime Minister's visit to China are encouraging. I believe that Sabah can benefit from those agreements," he said. At the same time, he said Sabah welcomes Chinese companies and businessmen to invest in Sabah, bringing more capital and technology, creating more jobs, and adding momentum to Sabah's economic development. "The State Government will strive to provide a convenient and favourable investment environment." Mohd Shafie said the change of Malaysian Government will not change Malaysia's friendly policy towards China, and the same is true of Sabah. "For Sabah, China is very close in both geographical location and cultural customs," he said, adding China's development the past 40 years has benefited the whole world. Tremendous contributions have been made to the world development by lifting 740 million people from poverty. It is shown that China has chosen a suitable path for its own development, which provides reference and confidence for other developing countries around the world." He said Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir recently said during his visit to China, that Malaysia's Look East policy in the new period includes learning from the successful experience of China's development, promoting innovation and creativity, as to achieve greater development for the country. - Larry Ralon   Source: Daily Express
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25Sep

Sandakan set for extreme sports tourism

By JAMES LEONG SANDAKAN: This east coast town is set to become a destination for international extreme sports enthusiasts as part of the efforts by Extreme Sport Sandakan to promote Sandakan as a venue for extreme sports tourism. A team of renowned international extreme sports specialists including National Geographic and Discovery Channel’s Kimi Werner from Hawaii, daredevil Brian Mosbaugh and Scott Rogers, two of the original members of the Moab Monkeys. The Moab Monkeys is a group of thrill-seekers nicknamed after the US town of Moab in Utah which the daredevil calls home. They were in Sandakan to identify locations for international extreme sports enthusiasts. Members of the group together with Extreme Sport Sandakan paid a courtesy call to Sandakan Municipal Council secretary Faridah Giau at her office in Wisma Perbandaran recently. Both sides exchanged views on the potentials which Sandakan has to offer to international extreme sports enthusiasts. One of the spots the group went to was Pulau Berhala located just off the Sandakan mainland during their visit here.   Source: New Sabah Times
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24Sep

Plans afoot for proposed Zamboanga-Kota Kinabalu flight

KOTA KINABALU: Plans are afoot for the inauguration of the proposed Zamboanga-Kota Kinabalu flight to be operated by Philippine Airlines (PAL) express. With the agreement of parties concerned, Deputy Chief Minister cum Minister of Tourism, Culture and Environment, Christina Liew said the tentative date for launching of the maiden flight is April 1st next year after advising PAL to seek clearance from the relevant authorities. “I am in favour of collaboration in respect of an exchange of tourists whereby it will be a two-way flow from Zamboanga to Kota Kinabalu, and vice versa,” she said during a courtesy call by a 12-member delegation from PAL, Sabah Tourism Board (STB), BIMP-.EAGA Business Council Inc., and Kadazandusun Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Malaysia (KCCI). It was led by PAL Consultant-Public Relations Services, Charlie T. Yu. Towards this end, Liew suggested that MATTA, Sabah tour operators and the Sabah Tourist Guides Association put their heads together in working out attractive tour packages for potential tourists and visitors from Zamboanga. “PAL can do likewise,” she said. The discussion with the Minister revolved around accessibility, landing rights, aircraft operations, flight frequency depending on passenger load, safety and security aspects, and publicity blitz. Briefing the Minister, Yu said the idea was mooted by BIMP-EAGA and strategic planning for the proposed Zamboanga-Kota Kinabalu flight began recently. “Actually, it is not new for PAL as the would-be realisation of the flight will be a reinstatement of PAL flights to Sabah which were discontinued about 20 years ago,” he said. He assured Liew that PAL was in the process of applying for landing rights in Kota Kinabalu under the Asean Air Transport Agreement. “In terms of entitlement, it is not an issue because we are in Asean. To be conservative, we are looking at three flights per week but if we see more opportunity, we can increase the frequency to daily flights. For starters, we will just open up the link with a Q400 New Generation 86-seater. If the passenger load increases, we may consider changing the aircraft to ATR-72; otherwise, we will maintain it (86-seater),” he said, adding the target date can be met. Roselan remarked: “You don’t have to go to Spain to see the Spanish. Zamboanga itself is rich in Spanish heritage.” Meanwhile, STB General Manager, Suzaini Datuk Sabdin Ghani reported that there were close to 20,000 air travellers from the Philippines to Sabah between January and July this year. Also present were the Ministry’s Deputy Permanent Secretary, Mariam Omar Matusin, PAL express Project Manager – Commercial & Business Development Office of the President, Philippines, Joseph Eli Tan, Malaysia representative in PAL, Low Siew Lian, Area Manager Malaysia, Gene Pauline DC Banzon, KCCI Vice-President Carl Moosom (Chairman, Domestic & International Trade) and STB Marketing Manager Bobby Alex.   Source: Borneo Post Online
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