KUCHING, Aug 10 — Airlines will be told to resume flights into the state after August 14 if there is no drastic increase in Covid-19 cases, said state Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah.

"The ministry had a meeting with the State Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) this morning.

"We will inform the airlines if there is no drastic increase in cases. Then after August 14, we will open up,” he told a press conference after the launch of Journal of Responsible Tourism Management at Baitulmakmur 2 here today.

Abdul Karim said that the ministry was aware of the problem faced by local hotel operators after the numbers of flights have been reduced for two weeks from August 1 to 14 for the state to combat the spike in Covid-19 cases.

"We know the problems that they are facing in these two weeks because of less flights coming in to the state. It is a chain reaction, not only hotels suffered but others like transportation are all affected one way or the other.

"August 14 is a few days more. Hopefully after August 14, things will return to normal,” he said.

Abdul Karim pointed out that the measure taken by the government was not to trouble the people.

"We are doing all these not to trouble the people but to protect Sarawak. We do not want the virus to spread,” he said.

On another note, Abdul Karim informed that the ministry was working with councils and area representatives to identify places in Padawan, Bengoh and Bau that could be turned into tourist attractions.

He noted that these areas have many interesting places like waterfalls and caves with and abundance of flora and fauna, which can be promoted as tourist attractions.

"We know there are such attractions in the areas. We can introduce waterfall trail or cave trail. We will look into the matter.

"I like these places is because they are very near to the city. If it is too far, tourists, whether local or foreign, will find that it takes too long to reach and they might not want to go,” he said. — Borneo Post Online