KUCHING, Dec 7 ― The Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Arts Ministry and its agencies will continuously look into digital initiatives for the state’s tourism sector, said its minister Datuk Seri Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah.

He said he looked forward to more digital transformation initiatives that will increase Sarawak tourism sector’s efficiency and productivity.

"Together, let us work hand in hand to make Sarawak a leading eco-tourism destination in the Asean region as we take on the themes of sustainability and digital revolution more intensely than before.

"A robust digitalisation strategy is what we need to stay resilient. As we move forward in line with Sarawak government’s digital economy agenda, Big Data collected from our digital platforms helps us to analyse travellers’ behaviour and trends and therefore contributes to delivering better services,” he pointed out yesterday.

Among the latest digital initiatives for the state’s tourism sector, he added, is the launching of the new and improved Sarawak Travel Portal and App to help promote tourist attractions and tourism products across the state.

The digital platform is a collaborative effort between Abdul Karim’s ministry, Sarawak Multimedia Authority (SMA), STB and Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) to provide a next-generation website and a smart device application to provide an added-value experience for travellers to Sarawak.

"Creating a quality end-to-end experience for tourists is important to improve travellers’ engagement with Sarawak. We are going to the next evolution in promoting Sarawak and its tourism products.

"STB also helped by merging the Sarawak Tourism website with the Sarawak Travel Portal and App to create a seamless online experience for prospective travellers.

"Now as the improved Travel Portal and App is equipped with cutting edge technologies such as the Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) components, users get total control over what they can see of Sarawak’s Culture, Adventure, Nature, Food and Festival (CANFF) offerings and experience Sarawak through a 360 degree view,” he said.

Abdul Karim was speaking during the launching ceremony for the portal and app which was held at the Borneo Convention Centre Kuching (BCCK) yesterday.

Also present were Sarawak Tourism Board (STB) chairman and Telang Usan assemblyman Dennis Ngau, STB chief executive officer Sharzede Datu Salleh Askor, Sarawak’s Ministry of Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Arts permanent secretary Datuk Hii Chang Kee and other officials.

Since it was first launched in February 2020, the Sarawak Travel Portal and App have received continuous development and upgrades which include four new content modules; namely Scenic Sites, National Parks and Nature Reserves, Food Trails, and an interactive game module.

With a total of five modules, the upgraded website and app offer fun and engaging digital solutions for visitors who want to stay in Sarawak, with Module 1-4 allowing users to take virtual tours of Sarawak’s tourism destinations with detailed information of Old Kuching heritage sites, scenic sites, national parks and food trails that feature 3D models of iconic products such as Sarawak Cultural Village (SCV), Mulu National Park and many more.

Through GPS technology, users get to try out Module 5 that has a geo-location game feature as a fun way to visit various Sarawak tourism attractions, such as the Kuching Waterfront, Chinese History Museum or Brooke Gallery, while accepting challenges from the game and collecting badges to unlock various achievements.

Another featured highlight about the Sarawak Travel App is its Geofencing capabilities to inform users not only on what tourist attractions that are nearby to them, but also able to digitally emulate a physical tour guide by giving background info and the significance of the attraction and products; and also give directions on how to get there.

The Sarawak Travel Portal and App is now available for download on Google Play Store and Apple Store.

The Sarawak government continues its digital initiatives for the tourism sector by launching the ‘Sarawak Road Trip: Self Drive Travel Guide’ on December 3 in Kuching and on December 10 in Miri this year that allows visitors travelling by road to download the specified Google Map route into their smartphone via a QR code for easy navigation from one tourist attraction to another.

According to a recent data by Statista, there will be an estimated 1.7 billion mobile augmented reality (AR) user devices worldwide in 2024, an increase of 1.5 billion from the 200 million seen in 2015. ― Borneo Post