RM1.2 million for tourism and creative industry in Sabah

 By Olivia Miwil - October 29, 2020 @ 4:50pm

Sabah Tourism, Culture and Environment minister Datuk Jafry Ariffin (centre) said the RM1,187,000 budget was part of the RM160 million additional assistance Covid-19 fund announced by the state government yesterday. - Photo courtesy of Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Environment Sabah.

KOTA KINABALU: The Sabah government will be allocating close to RM1.2 million for players in the tourism and creative industry whose income was affected during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Sabah Tourism, Culture and Environment minister Datuk Jafry Ariffin said the RM1,187,000 budget was part of the RM160 million additional assistance Covid-19 fund announced by the state government yesterday.

He said a RM300 one-off assistance would be given to 3,957 people, including mountain guides and porters, tour guides, divemasters, artists and performers.

He urged those affected to stay strong and use the down time caused by Covid-19 to improve existing facilities at tourist destinations.

Jafry said he had met with the Sabah Parks board of directors, as well as representatives from the mountain guides and porters associations to discuss this and how to further improve tourism infrastructure in the state.

Since the implementation of the initial Movement Control Order in March, tourist arrivals in Sabah had dropped significantly although it saw a slight improvement as the government allowed recreational activities during the Recovery Movement Control Order around mid year.

However, Covid-19 cases started to spike again in September during the state election which forced a lockdown in the east coast of the state.

Since then, Conditional Movement Control Order has eventually been imposed throughout Sabah due to widespread Covid-19 cases.