Sabah expects more than 1.7m tourist arrivals this year

KOTA KINABALU, June 19 — Sabah is confident of recording more than 1.7 million tourist arrivals this year, Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor said last night.

The final number is expected to be higher than last year’s 1.72 million, but still short of the 2.2 million tourists targeted.

Hajiji said Sabah registered a total of 792,899 visitor arrivals from January to April this year, making it a 94 per cent increase compared to the same period last year.

Of these, 565,424 were visitors from within Malaysia while 227,475 were from abroad.

“This bodes well for Sabah as we continue to push for more air connectivity into Sabahto add to the current weekly 100 international flights with a total seat capacity of 18,164and domestic flights of 366 with a total seat capacity of 60,303,” the chief minister said at the state Tourism, Arts and Culture Ministry’s community programme in Keningau.

Hajiji said his government is trying to develop more community-based tourism throughout the state, in line with its goal of uplifting rural communities.

He added that the state government wanted to upgrade the basic tourism facilities for the convenience and safety of tourists as well as developing and upskilling community-based tourism operators.

As an example, he cited two pilot projects in Kiulu and Kadamaian that had generated RM5.45 million and RM2.57 million revenue in 2019, attracted 217,000 visitors and created up to 300 local jobs.

Such initiatives has since been adopted in many districts in the state including in the interior andKeningau, which are a tourism haven for adventure, culture, environment, food andhistory enthusiasts.

“We are also proud because other states in Malaysia like Terengganu, Melaka, Sarawakand Pahang has looked to Sabah to learn from our success in developing the ruraltourism industry.

“We are confident that by 2030, Sabah will achieve 80 percent Asean standard compliance target for CoBT in Sabah,” he said, the abbreviation meaning community-based tourism.

To date, Sabah has won various awards such as the Asean Community Based TourismAward, Asean Homestay Award, the World Tourism Organisation Best Village Tourism and the World Crafts Council Award of Excellence for Handicraft in the Asia Pacific Region.