KUCHING: The Sarawak Tourism Board (STB) has launched its latest tourism campaign, ‘Sarawak Look, See… Chiak, Makan’ for Singaporean foodies.
Minister for Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Arts, Datuk Seri Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah said people were making up for lost time and going for holidays after the easing of travel restrictions, thus the campaign was timely.
“We hope that Singaporeans will enjoy exploring Kuching, Malaysia’s first Unesco Creative City of Gastronomy as well as Sarawak’s other destinations like Miri.”
Abdul Karim said this during a ceremony at ITB Asia 2022 at Sands Expo & Convention in Singapore yesterday.
The campaign, which ends on Dec 15, is a collaborative effort between STB and participating tour operators.
Throughout this campaign, participating tour operators will bring Singaporeans to any restaurant or hawker stall, including Sarawak Laksa and Mee Kolok outlets, as per their tour package.
Abdul Karim noted that there had been a huge influx of Singaporean visitors to Sarawak, with the island republic ranking third in the charts.
He said there were a total of 16,819 visitors from March until September, ever since the resumption of direct flights from Singapore to Sarawak in February 2022.
“While numbers are a good indicator, we must seize this opportunity to creatively rethink and re-strategise how the pandemic has changed the tourism industry.”
Meanwhile, another significant event was the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between STB, Sarawak Trade and Tourism Office Singapore (STATOS), and the Singapore Scout Association (SSA).
The MoU recognises SSA as Sarawak’s ambassador and partner in creating programmes to educate Singaporean youths, families, and individuals on Sarawak’s rich cultural and natural heritage in the hope that through these generational lenses, Sarawak’s green initiatives and efficacy would be enhanced.
For the record, ITB Asia is Asia’s largest travel trade.
It returns to Singapore this year from Oct 19 to 21 as a premier meeting place that brings together travel trade industry professionals and a forum for establishing high-quality customer contacts and businesses for international exhibitors and Asia-Pacific’s leading travel companies.
