Sabah hopes to revive tourism sector this year, says governor [NSTTV]

 By Olivia Miwil - March 16, 2022 @ 1:19pm

Sabah Yang DiPertua Negeri Tun Juhar Mahiruddin said the state government is also in the preparation stage to have international evaluation panels in recognising Kinabalu Park as a Unesco Global Geopark. - NSTP/MOHD ADAM ARININ
Sabah Yang DiPertua Negeri Tun Juhar Mahiruddin said the state government is also in the preparation stage to have international evaluation panels in recognising Kinabalu Park as a Unesco Global Geopark. - NSTP/MOHD ADAM ARININ

KOTA KINABALU: The Sabah government is hoping that the tourism industry will be revived this year, said Sabah Yang DiPertua Negeri Tun Juhar Mahiruddin.

"The state government is implementing many initiatives to redevelop the tourism sector as preparation to attract more tourists to Sabah, especially when international tourism activities are being allowed.

"This includes making infrastructure development and basic facilities better for tourists, as well as introducing new tourism products and conducting more aggressive promotion activities, " he said during the opening of the state assembly sitting here.

This year, among the new programmes to be held include the wreck and reef balls diving at Mamutik island, as well as wildlife orchid and coral reef adoption programmes.

He said that the state government is also in the preparation stage to have international evaluation panels in recognising Kinabalu Park as a Unesco Global Geopark.

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Apart from that, Juhar added that there have been smart partnerships with airline companies, tour agents and Tourism Malaysia to explore new potential markets while maintaining the promotion of community-based tourism products.

"At the same time, Sabah has holistic plans to ensure the uniqueness and variety of ethnic, heritage and culture elements as well as rich nature as assets and tourism attraction in Sabah.

"There are also various research related to nature to be implemented to strengthen the management of the environment," he said, adding that enforcement and surveillance on wildlife will also be improved to develop conservation-based tourism in Sabah.

Through the Sabah Forestry Department, the state will also focus on benefiting the community through high-impact socioeconomic forestry activities.

"A transformation shift will be implemented to achieve the Sabah government's target in setting up about 400,000 hectares of forest farm by 2035.

"The state government is confident that the timber industry will recover and become one of the main contributors to the state's socio -economic development through the commitment of all existing and new players in implementing this action plan in the future.

"In the meantime, the State Government will continue to explore the potential and opportunities for generating new forest products through mechanisms such as Ecosystem Services Payment, Conservation Financing, and Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD Plus)."

Juhar said forest recreation and ecotourism can also be further developed to support the state government's policy in encouraging more Malaysians to travel within the country.

He added such a programme has been held since 2008 in Sabah whereby the state has more than 40 ecotourism destinations.



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