KOTA KINABALU: Sabah wants tourism success to be measured beyond visitor arrival numbers, placing greater emphasis on economic impact, tourist spending, job creation and benefits to local communities.
Sabah Tourism, Culture and Environment Ministry permanent secretary Datuk Josie Lai said tourism contributed RM13.7 billion or 12 per cent in state revenue and supported nearly 400,000 jobs or 22 per cent of total employment.
“When we look at tourism, we are looking at the economic engine of the state.
"Tourism is not just about the leisure industry in Sabah, it is also a critical pillar of our state economy,” she said during a forum titled Driving SMJ 2.0: Accelerating the Three Core Sectors for Sabah's RM100 Billion GDP Target, held in conjunction with Sankalpa Sabah 2030 here.
Lai said tourism generated a strong multiplier effect, with retail trade accounting for 47.3 per cent of tourism spending, while the accommodation and food and beverage sectors captured 29.7 per cent.
“When a traveller visits our state, they aren’t just paying a tour operator. They are buying fresh produce from a local farmer, supporting a traditional weaver and keeping a neighbourhood restaurant open."
She said Sabah needed to assess tourism's true economic contribution by measuring its direct, indirect and induced impacts on gross domestic product (GDP), employment, small and medium enterprises, transport, agriculture and local communities.
Instead of focusing solely on visitor arrivals, she said, the state should also measure tourist spending, length of stay and repeat visits.
“We do not just evaluate the visitor arrivals, but we also need to look at tourist spending, how long they stay, whether they come back or not,” she said.
Lai said Sabah was looking to increase tourism's contribution as it worked towards expanding the state's economy, including a simulated target of achieving higher GDP growth over the next five to 10 years.
She said one priority was increasing tourism revenue across Sabah's 18 districts, with a target of raising revenue from RM7 million to RM25 million for rural tourism revenue focus area.
To achieve this, she said the state needed to address funding gaps, improve tourism infrastructure, strengthen marketing efforts and develop products that could compete with destinations such as Sarawak, Thailand and Vietnam.
“Transport and logistics are the main criteria for the tourism industry to flourish,” she said, adding that better roads, airports, ports, utilities and connectivity were needed to encourage repeat visits.
Lai said Sabah was also focusing on high-value tourism by capitalising on its natural assets while encouraging private investment in new hotels, resorts, attractions and other tourism-related businesses.
She added that protecting Sabah's forests, marine parks and biodiversity remained crucial to sustaining the industry.
“Tourism growth depends on investment, accessibility, global economic conditions, airline connectivity and destination competitiveness, and our targets should be evidence-based rather than politically driven,” she said.
Lai also cautioned that tourism remained vulnerable to global disruptions because it was a consumer-driven industry.
“Anything that happens globally, the impact is first on tourism. When war happens, we don’t travel. When Covid comes, we don’t travel,” she said.
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