Singapore to be key hub for Sarawak Tourism Board’s Promotional Activities

Sarawak Assistant Minister of Tourism, Arts & Culture Datuk Lee Kim Shin announced at an industry event last 18 October that Singapore will be a central hub for Sarawak Tourism Board’s marketing strategies as the Sarawak state government will be setting up an office in Singapore next year.

“This year, we recorded a 16.5% increase in arrivals from January to July which is a good indicator of gaining interest from travelers from the Singapore market, attributable to the increased flights from Singapore through Scoot, Malaysia Airlines, and Air Asia which are making daily trips. This gives us a total of more than 600 seats made available every day from Singapore to Kuching.”

The industry event held at The Westin saw the unveiling of the Visit Sarawak Year logo, a precursor to its official launch in January 2019. The Visit Sarawak campaign is envisioned to place Sarawak on the tourism map as one of the preferred tourist destinations in Southeast Asia with its plethora of culture, adventure, nature, food, and festivals (CANFF) offerings that are not found anywhere else in the world.

“We will be looking to intensify efforts to increase arrivals from Singapore. In the coming year, Singaporeans can look forward to more new packages that will provide competitively priced offerings focusing on culture, adventure, nature, food, and festivals. We will also look forward to exploring how we can partner Singapore as our twin city.”

Sarawak had recorded a total spending of RM8.59 billion from tourism in 2017, which accounted for 7.9% of its gross domestic product (GDP).

International arrivals to Sarawak clocked in at 2.6 million last year. Some of the key international markets for Visit Sarawak will be UK, Germany, the Benelux, China, Australia, and ASEAN countries. ASEAN countries were a key source of visitors, which accounted for 48.98% or 2.38 million arrivals in 2017.

The newly-minted Sarawak Tourism Board CEO, Askor said, “Digital will be a large part of our campaign. Besides creating content on digital platforms to reach out to our markets, we are also developing a mobile app which will anchor the discovery process for all our visitors.”

The industry event saw a performance by award-winning Sarawakian songstress, Dayang Nurfaizah, and Tuku Kame, an award-winning world music band who has conducted global tours as a prelude to the offerings of the campaign.