KUCHING, 11 January 2021: Looking back at 2020 and the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic it hasn’t deterred the Sarawak Tourism Board from continuing to promote the East Malaysia state in readiness for better days to come.
Borneo Mail quoted Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister, Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah, saying: “I would like to highlight something very key for Sarawak tourism, that we received tremendous support from the media in our efforts to promote our beautiful land to the world.
“Our year-end reports indicate that we reached an astounding 1.1 billion audiences throughout 2020 with our stories and initiatives (promoting Sarawak), despite the global pandemic.
“As our borders gradually start to open, we hope to continue to reach out to many more prospective visitors to ensure Sarawak remains top-of-mind and hopefully entice them to visit once it is safe to travel again,” Karim said in his speech during Sarawak Tourism Board’s presentation to local media first posted in the Borneo Mail.
“Through the media, that we are able to bring about more than a billion people virtually to Sarawak, and have hopefully, somehow enticed them to visit once it is safe to travel again,” he continued.
STB used the downtime in marketing activities to “re-strategising to prepare and ensure comprehensive tourism recovery plans, to improve and rebuild destinations in preparation for 2021 and the post-pandemic era.”
Admitting the Covid-19 crisis may not be fully over during 2021, Karim said he was confident there would be a further increase in travel activities with the opening of green zones and travel bubbles with the possibility of the opening of borders within the region.
Two initiatives that are now up-and-running include the Visitors Incentive Package (VIP) for travel agencies and the Sarawak Tourism Online Ecosystem Fund programmes to expand Sarawak Tourism’s digital footprint in collaboration with industry partners.
Last August STB launched the “Sia Sitok Sarawak” Intra-state Travel Campaign for Sarawakians and Residents of Sarawak, which is now the core activity to ensure domestic traveller can confidently visit Sarawak.
Sarawak was also the first state to collaborate with GRAB Malaysia to introduce the e-hailing online-based learning Ambassadors Programme, for e-hailing drivers, to enhance their knowledge on Sarawak, to become tourism ambassadors in time for the influx of tourists once the borders are open.
To star 2020 on the right foot STB is about to launch an inter-state campaign for Peninsular Malaysians to visit Sarawak.
(Source: Borneo Mail)
