CREATING TOP OF THE MIND

Sarawak aims to be the ‘Top of Mind’ name for visitors to Malaysia one day. This is the smartest tourist idea so far.

Sarawak Tourism Minister Datuk Amar Abang Johari Tun Openg said this meant that the state wanted tourists to automatically think of Sarawak when they thought of having a holiday in Malaysia or Borneo. He said this was why the state was constantly looking into new ways of making vacation places more interesting and more attractive to everybody.

To ensure the state achieve this aim, he called on the public and private tourism players to pool their resources and work together to start creating new and innovative ways to promote Sarawak, especially the facilities that it had, the uniqueness in culture, adventure and nature that the players all bank on.

Johari, who is also Housing Minister, said given more tourists were looking for eco-friendly recreation, there was a need for all parties concerned to constantly enhance the state’s offerings by promoting environmentally friendly business practices and activities.

“We have the natural resources in our national parks, beaches and wildlife. What we need to do is to find creative ways to promote and preserve these resources while promoting them to attract more people to visit Sarawak,” he said at the launch of the Easturia Vacation Club at Grand Margherita Hotel here yesterday.

Johari said there was also a need to look into and explore other potential areas to promote the state as a tourist destination. He noted that one key growth area was health and medical tourism, whereby those coming to the state for medical reasons could also take their holiday breaks at the same time.

He added that it also critical that tourism players in both public and private sectors constantly upgrade and enhance the products and services in order to remain competitive in view of the stiff competition from other established destinations such as Phuket, Bali and Singapore.