TOURISM HAS NO POLITICAL DIVIDE

When it comes to tourism politician of both sides speak the same languange.PKR Women National vice-president Voon Shiak Ni said the government should ensure that all tourist attractions are properly developed and promoted before calling for more direct flights to the state. She said while the call for more direct flights to the state was timely but the development and promotion of more tourist attractions in the state was also long overdue.

 

“The direct flights to facilitate tourist arrivals to Sarawak must be carried out together with the creation of more tourist destinations and their promotions worldwide have to be enhanced,” she said.

 

Voon was responding to a statement by Tourism Minister Datuk Amar Abang Johari Tun Openg saying that the state needed more direct flights when he met with Tourism and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Nazri Abdul Aziz. “Tourists want direct flights, point-to-point destinations since it is convenient for them. If that can be done, I’m confident that Malaysia can be a haven for tourists,” he told Nazri at Kubah Ria recently.

 

Abang Johari said the state has better infrastructure than countries like Bali and Indonesia, adding that with direct flights, the state could tap into the expanding market of the tourism industry.

 

Voon claimed that despite the state being blessed with all the scenic natural beauty, caves, hills, greeneries and waterfalls, not many of them were developed to achieve international standards. She said it is important for the state government to seriously look into the matter considering that the state would be able lure to tourists from around the world only if proper development and promotion were done on all the tourist attractions.

 

“The feedbacks we received from tourism players are that there are in fact many more tourist attractions that we can develop and promote apart from just Sarawak Cultural Village, Semenggoh Wildlife Centre and Annah Rais Longhouse. “Some foreign tourists even commented that there was too little to see in Sarawak.”

 

Voon suggested the government to seriously develop and upgrade the tourist attractions such as the caves in Bau and Siniawan, the natural beaches in Sematan and Lundu and Padawan area to cater for overseas tourists. “At the moment, most of them such as the Wind Cave and Fairy Cave in Bau, the waterfalls in Matang and Serian are only frequented by locals.