KOTA KINABALU, 21 June 2022: Andrea Filmer has always wanted to bring her family to visit Sabah. That wish was made possible after she won the #flymetosabah virtual letter contest, leading her to win a travel voucher to Sabah worth MYR5,000.
Hailing from Penang, Andrea was the second main winner of the campaign after she posted a video on her Facebook page about her kid’s interest in visiting Sabah.
Sabah Tourism organized the ‘Fly Me To Sabah’ contest from 14 February to 14 April 2022. Through this contest, participants were required to post their virtual letters to Sabah Tourism via Facebook and Instagram and use the required hashtags to win their ‘bucket list’ holiday.
“The #flymetosabah campaign has shown a promising result with a total of 245 eligible entries at the end of the campaign. Our team also ran a mini #flymetosabah Matta Fair edition held recently on the 9-10 April 2022 at the World Trade Center, Kuala Lumpur,” said Noredah Othman, Chief Executive Officer of Sabah Tourism Board.
“The campaign has been able to stimulate domestic travel demands, especially since our international border was not open until 1 April 2022”, she added.
Arrival statistics for March 2022 showed an increased number of domestic visitors to Sabah with a total of 119,399 arrivals that made up 50.9% of the total domestic arrival for the same month pre-Covid-19 pandemic in 2019.
“I remember the day when the 14th March winner was announced. I was making lunch and checking my phone on and off. I remember thinking that I shouldn’t get my hopes up and then chiding myself for that very thought as it’s okay to hope and pray for the things you want. Even so, later in the afternoon, when I saw myself tagged by the SABAH, Malaysian Borneo social media account, I could barely believe my eyes. There was a lot of yelling and cheering going around, and all three kids started chanting, “We are going to Sabah!” quoted Andrea to Sabah Tourism Board.
Andrea, with her husband, Chong Han Yao and their three children, aged 5 to 8, recently returned from their bucket list Sabah holiday. They were in Sabah for four days visiting various attractions around the West Coast. Among the places that they visited were Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park, Klias Wetland, experiencing the North Borneo sunset cruise and city tours.
“I think our visit was amazing. All our three kids are very different, but across the whole trip, Kota Kinabalu offered us so many unique things that each kid took to at different times. For our youngest, it was snorkelling at the TARP islands and getting a glimpse at what lives under the sea. Our middle child remains thrilled at seeing a live crocodile at the Klias river and having his fill on the North Borneo Cruise ship. Our daughter loved the food and all the places that allowed her to be in the water.”
The #flymetosabah campaign has awarded four main winners with the most creative, unique, and exciting ‘letter’. Eighty (80) participants received Sabah Tourism’s limited merchandise items.
The three other winners of #flymetosabah are Marcel George from Sarawak, Zaki Yusof from Kuala Lumpur, and Siti Rohayu Aziz from Selangor. They are scheduled to travel to Sabah between June to September.
The winning entries can be seen at www.flymetosabah.sabahtourism.com.
Photo courtesy of Andrea Filmer
About Sabah Tourism Board
The Sabah Tourism Board, generally known as Sabah Tourism, is an agency of the Sabah State Government operating under the purview of the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Environment. Sabah Tourism was first established in August 1976 as the Sabah Tourism Promotion Corporation and later re-established as Sabah Tourism Board.
(Your Stories: Sabah Tourism Board)
