Tag - Tourism

Tourist arrivals in Sabah last year rose by 13.6 per cent to 2.84 million compared to 2010, said State Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun yesterday. He said the figure not only exceeded Sabah Tourism Board’s (STB) arrival projection of 2.63 million, but also achieved its 2012 projection of 2.75 million.

According to him, the industry contributed an estimated RM4.98 billion, proving the importance of air accessibility for the industry.

“It was an unpredictable year-end with the flight issues. However, I am pleased to say that Sabah recorded double-digit growth every month since March last year.

“This consistency of growth shows the strong demand of visitors coming to our state either for leisure or business with 96 per cent arriving by air,” he said in a statement here.

Masidi said the strong markets that contributed to the figure were China (including Hong Kong) which grew by 37.6 per cent, Australia (33.3 per cent) and Japan (18.4 per cent), despite the recent Japan tsunami crisis.

Domestic tourists recorded the highest number of visitors with 1.99 million or an increase of 17 per cent compared to 2010, he added.

Meanwhile, Masidi remained optimistic for this year, despite being a challenging one with Malaysia Airlines’ (MAS) recent route rationalisation.

“The rationalisation will especially affect the Japan and Western Australia markets.

“There are now no direct flights between Sabah and Japan, while for Australia, Sabah Tourism Board is working hard with other airlines to continue offering Sabah holiday packages,” he said.

He said MAS should have continued to develop the Kota Kinabalu-Perth route as there was very strong growth at 33.3 per cent of Australian arrivals in Sabah last year.

“I am sure the route would have eventually been very profitable for MAS in a relatively short period of time,” he added.

This year, Masidi said, the state government is targeting regional and domestic markets and would be working closely with local industry players to improve the product quality as well as introducing attractive holiday packages during the low season.

“We are also looking into collaborating with three-star and four-star hotels to offer affordable holiday packages during non-peak season to achieve the 2012 projection of 2.93 million visitors.

Source: Bernama

The New Year has started out on a turbulent note for Sabah’s air transportation sector, with some fearing that recent developments may spell hard times ahead for investment in the state and its tourism sector. Yet a possible partnership with neighbouring Brunei Darussalam’s national carrier may hold a solution to Sabah’s air travel troubles.

Difficulties began when national carrier Malaysia Airline System Bhd (MAS) announced the cancellation of a number of flights to and from the East Malaysian state. On the chopping block are flights from Kota Kinabalu to Osaka, Perth, Tokyo and Seoul. These cuts accounted for more than 16 million available seat kilometres (ASKs), or almost 70 per cent of MAS’s international capacity at Kota Kinabalu Airport.

In December 2011, MAS unveiled a new business plan to reduce system-wide ASKs by 12 per cent. The capacity reductions were designed to improve the airline’s bottom line by RM 220 million (US$70.69 million) to RM 302 million (US$97.04 million) by the end of 2012.

In the first nine months of 2011, MAS reported a net loss of RM1.24 billion (US$398.44 million) compared with a net profit of RM8.55 million (US$2.75 million) recorded a year earlier. Its cash and cash equivalent fell to RM968.5 million (US$311.19 million) during the same period, compared with RM1.92 billion (US$616.93 million) in 2010.

In anticipation of this, MAS and low-cost airline AirAsia agreed to a landmark share swap and cooperation deal in August 2011, with MAS subsequently focusing more on the premium end of the air travel market. Under the deal, Tune Air – AirAsia’s major shareholder – now holds a 20.5 per cent stake in MAS, and MAS major shareholder, Khazanah Nasional, now holds a 10 per cent stake in AirAsia.

As MAS reduces its presence in the region, AirAsia’s market share in Kota Kinabalu is thus expected to increase. Kota Kinabalu is AirAsia’s second-largest Malaysian base, but it currently does not serve any of the four discontinued MAS routes, though it is expected to revive some of them.

AirAsia is already the largest carrier at Kota Kinabalu Airport, with a total capacity of 52 per cent. Its domestic and international capacity shares are 54 per cent and 43 per cent, respectively.

Many of Sabah’s politicians and tourism operators have voiced their concerns regarding the national airline’s decision, accusing it of crippling business and investment. Additional concerns had been raised that the absence of competition resulting from the MAS-AirAsia swap would result in more expensive airfares for locals.

Indeed, local media reported that opposition Sabah Progressive People’s Party (SAPP) president, Datuk Seri Panglima Yong Teck Lee, a former Sabah chief minister, had even described the share-swap as a form of ‘collusion’ between the two corporations and warned against a ‘monopoly’ of the nation’s air-travel industry.

The high degree of concern is partly explained by Borneo’s isolated geography and difficult terrain, which makes air travel the easiest – and sometimes the only – way to get on, off and around the island.

The controversy continued when Sabah Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) chief Datuk Edward Khoo, who is also the assistant minister to the chief minister, told reporters in January he thought MAS should rethink its business plan in Sabah.

“Being a national airline, you have such a thing called social responsibility,” he said, “especially to Sabah and Sarawak, because you are also responsible to help promote the integration of Peninsular and East Malaysia.”

He added that MAS also has a responsibility to promote business and tourism in Sabah and Sarawak, and that if it was abandoning this responsibility, perhaps it was time to open up Sabah to other airlines on international and domestic routes.

Stepping into the fray, Sabah Air Aviation (Sabah Air) announced it was seeking approval to become a full-fledged airline that would operate domestic and regional routes. However, many question whether the relatively inexperienced state-owned airline was equipped to take on such operations.

Indeed, Yong cautioned against Sabah Air starting its own carrier. “It’s too high a risk for Sabah Air to start its own airline,” Yong said. “Sabah Air is not suited as an airline to even fly within Sabah, as there are many risks and costs involved.”

According to Yong, a better alternative would be for Sabah Air to partner with an established regional airline, such as Royal Brunei Airlines (RBA). “I would feel that the first airline to talk to is RBA using Bandar Seri Begawan as a hub. RBA … want passengers coming to Sabah and Sarawak to stop over in Brunei. So it is possible that Brunei can be the hub. This is part of BIMP-EAGA,” Yong stressed, referring to the regional cooperation group.

Whether RBA is interested in partnering with Sabah Air is unknown. The Bruneian carrier has seen cut backs of its own recently, but expanding its presence within Borneo, given its aim to establish itself as a regional air centre, could be a strong incentive.

Source: Borneo Post (by Robin Carballido)

The North Borneo Railway steam train service is back on track after an absence of six years.

"This is the only one of its kind in South East Asia which I think Sabah should leverage on, said Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister, Datuk Masidi Manjun at the re-launching of the North Borneo Railway here, Saturday.

The North Borneo Railway is a joint venture project between Sutera Harbour and the Sabah State Railway Department, which was temporarily closed in September 2005 due to the upgrading works of the railway track.

The three-hour train service will operate on Wednesdays and Saturdays from Tanjung Aru to Papar.

Masidi said Sabahans should be proud that despite the developments and the modernisation of the transport industry, the State has somehow managed to save one of the last remnants of colonial transport.

"I believe that this is going to be a winner and be very popular among tourists just by looking at all the amenities and facilities that are served on board," he said, adding that it is very important that the standard of service is maintained continuously.

"I have always advocated that there are things in Sabah that we need to maintain for instance old shop houses in Tanjung Aru, which we need to strengthen the structure and convert into something that we can actually add value to what we already have.

"We have to keep in mind that development is not just about building tall buildings, its about the convenience of the people, you need to look beyond the building itself to appreciate what you are going to put into the city.

"If the city is congested with buildings, obviously traffic jams will follow next and at the end of the day, your intentions of wanting to enrich the city would actually backfire because people will stop patronising the city," said Masidi, adding that is why the same principle should apply to a product like this North Borneo Railway," he said.

On the recent opening of an 'upside down' house in Tuaran, he said, there is a need to think outside the box and come up with innovative ideas to continue to interest people in the tourism industry in Sabah.

On whether his Ministry will promote it as a tourism product, Masidi said as long as it complies with the safety standards there is nothing wrong with it.

"For me its not just about being upside down, its about creativity and that's what we need, it's not about doing the same thing over and over again but trying to do something new because the same thing all over again will only give the same result," he said.

In another matter he said: "I am very happy to announce that we may have exceeded our projected tourist arrivals of 2.63 million, however, we're still counting and we may have reached a figure of somewhere between 2.75million."

He also assured that his Ministry is working very hard to go for alternative routes following Malaysia Airlines' decision to cut a few routes.

"I went to Shanghai in December to meet up with China Eastern Airlines and immediately they have started their charter flight service to Kota Kinabalu.

"Hopefully by the end of this month, I will again go to Guangzhou to meet the China Southern Airlines and again its my sincere wish that they will come and start their service in Kota Kinabalu," he said.

Also present were Mayor Datuk Abidin Madingkir and Sutera Harbour Resort Chairman Tan Sri Ahmad Kamil Jaffar, among others.

Source: Daily Express

The 13th City Day Open Regatta 2012 organised by Kinabalu Yacht Club (KYC) and Sabah Sailing Association (SAILA) will be held on Feb 25 and 26 at the 1st Beach Tanjung Aru.

The boat race will be flagged off by the Organising Committee of KYC on Feb 25 at 11am and the prize presentation cum closing ceremony will be held on the next day at 5pm which will be graced by Sabah Tourism Board Chairman, Dato' Seri Tengku Zainal Abidin.

Sailing as a sport also contributes to tourism as it is classified as Sport Tourism and is value added tourism as young sailors are normally accompanied by families, coaches and managers who will stay here for many days prior to the event to get used to the sea and weather.

The event had become one of the "ranking" races of the State where most sailors for a place in the State team must take part to get a rank.

Many sailors throughout the State and from Navy, Labuan as well as Indonesia are expected to participate in the annual event.

This event is held traditionally in the month of February which was the month Kota Kinabalu was elevated to City status ten years ago and also coincides with the North East winds which is the strongest wind in the year.

The classes of dinghies include International 470, International 420, lasers as well as optimists.

For many optimist sailors, the event will be a selection for a series of races for the MSSM team to represent Sabah at the MSSM sailing competition.

The sailors will be required to sail a prescribed course in the sea and several races will be carried out with the winner based on the results of all the races.

Trophies and medals will be awarded different categories of the sailboats gender separation for some classes for example the Optimist and Laser Classes.

The public are welcome to witness the two-day event which is aimed at providing exposure for Sabah sailors while promoting water sports tourism in the State.

For further information please contact admin office at 088-240070, 243070 during office hours or email at kyctaru1@streamyx.com.

Source: Daily Express