BY NURA VALENTIANA LORNA & SAMUEL KARUNIA KORNO
KUCHING: Sarawak saw a significant increase in tourist arrivals during January and February, with 750,768 visitors in 2024 compared to 697,822 in 2019.
This surge also led to a notable boost in tourism receipts, totalling RM1.93bil for the first two months of 2024, up from RM1.73bil in 2023.
Minister for Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Arts, Datuk Seri Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah expressed optimism that this positive momentum would continue throughout the year, noting a significant rise in both foreign and domestic visitors.
“During the period, we recorded 447,908 foreigners in January and February this year, compared to 302,925 in the same period last year. Domestic visitors also increased from 272,028 last year to 302,865 this year between January and February.”
Abdul Karim made these remarks during a press conference after launching the 27th edition of the Rainforest World Music Festival (RWMF) at the Sheraton Hotel here today (Mar 22).
Expressing confidence in surpassing the target of four million tourist arrivals for the year, he noted the typical low season during January and February, followed by a spike in visitor numbers from June to August.
“From now on, from March right up to December, once the start is like that, it will grow, and then the last four months always record the most number of visitors.
“We hope to see that. And we never know. We might even hit five million this year. But our target for 2024 is four million. I think we should be able to hit that target much earlier because we have the Malaysia Games (Sukma) and many other events coming up. This will surely bring a lot of visitors this year.”
