KUCHING: This year’s 21st Rainforest World Music Festival (RWMF) is expected to draw in its usual crowd of 20,000 visitors.
Taking place this coming 13 to 15 July at the Sarawak Cultural Village (SCV) and Damai Central, the Minister for Tourism, Arts, Culture, Youth, and Sports Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah said that this was one of the most anticipated music festivals each year.
“This festival is anticipated each year by festival goers as close to 20,000 will turn up and out of that number, 30 per cent are foreigners.
“This year we are expecting around the same numbers as 20,000 is the maximum capacity, but we hope that we can expand it to 30,000 in the coming years,” he said during a press conference after chairing a meeting at the SCV here yesterday.
Karim advised visitors to not bring in outside food and drinks as there would be 20 stalls from well-known restaurants in Kuching participating in the festival.
“We want to maintain a high level of hygiene as this is an international-level festival and we only approach eateries with a high level of hygiene.
“We are dealing with both the locals and foreigners and we don’t want anything to happen to them such as food poisoning,” he said.
He also advised those going to the festival to use the shuttle buses provided at selected locations to ease traffic congestion.
“Those with tickets to the festival can enjoy free shuttle services at The Hills Shopping Mall, Riverside Majestic Hotel, Harbour View Hotel and Merdeka Palace Hotel.
“You can park your cars at any of these locations and use the shuttle services to go to and fro but if you have to use your own vehicles, we encourage you to carpool,” he said.
Also present at the press conference were Assistant Minister for Tourism, Arts and Culture, Datuk Lee Kim Shin and Chairman of Sarawak Tourism Board, Datuk Abdul Wahab Aziz.
As for tickets, the pre-sale is still ongoing until 12 July whereby festival goers can purchase tickets at a lower price. There will also be a door sale for the tickets from 13 to 15 July but at a slightly higher price.
Apart from the usual one-day and three-day passes, there will also be family packages for up to two adults and two children.
The price for a child’s ticket is only applicable if the child is between the ages of 7 and 12 years old, those below the age of 7 can enter for free.
For further information and to purchase the tickets, the general public may visit the website at http://rwmf.net/.
