MIRI: Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Datuk Lee Kim Shin yesterday suggested that Sarawak tour operators to form a consortium so that they could promote their tourism packages on a large scale.
“This will allow you to collaborate more with your foreign counterparts, especially from China,” he told them at the launch of the 4th edition of MATTA Fair Miri 2019 at E-Mart Riam here yesterday.
The assistant minister pointed out that collaborations with tour operators in Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah, Brunei or China would definitely boost tourist arrivals in Sarawak.
“I believe the collaborations will be a win-win situation for all parties involved,” added Lee.
He also suggested that the local tour operators create interesting tour packages to attract more tourists to the state.
Matta Malaysia president Datuk Tan believed that Matta would continue to introduce more value-for-money travel deals and new exciting destinations.
“The state recorded 1,797,634 tourist arrivals from January to May this year compared to 1,750,640 in the corresponding period last year,” he said.
The top five sources of visitors to Sarawak are Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, the Philippines, China and Singapore.
Also present at the launch was Miri Matta 2019 organising chairman William Chiam.
There were 40 booths at the Miri Matta Fair which started on June 28 and ended yesterday. Most of the booths were taken up by local tour operators.
