KUCHING: Traditional taxi drivers need to adopt e-hailing to stay relevant, and to better promote Sarawak. This was the advice from Asean Master Tourism trainer YS Chan (pic), who was in the city to conduct a Travel and Tours Enhancement Course programme for 29 travel agencies.
He said by adopting the e-hailing service, taxis with Visit Sarawak Campaign stickers could enhance their service and help promote Sarawak since the demand for public transportation from visitors would vastly increase.
“The idea of providing taxis with (VSC) stickers (for display on the vehicles) is a good effort to boost the tourism industry in the state,” Chan said at the programme conducted at the MATTA Sarawak Chapter office yesterday.
“Besides using billboards and banners as promotional tools, one of the effective ways is bus advertising. People usually notice things that are displayed on buses. The visibility is important.
“In order to make displaying stickers on taxis more effective, they (cabbies) should switch to the e-hailing service, like in the peninsular,” he said.
Chan explained that taxi drivers would be able to access markets in urban areas as tourists mainly used mobile apps to book rides.
“With the usage of mobile apps like Grab, the e-hailing platform can help taxi drivers to organise their time and operating costs efficiently. They don’t need to wait for hours at strategic points to pick up passengers.”
Apart from e-hailing, Chan also pointed out that it was important for cabbies who have yet to embrace digital technology to learn and use smartphones to stay in the rapidly changing industry.
More than 2,000 car stickers and decals have been distributed to taxis throughout the state as part of the Sarawak Tourism Board’s efforts to promote Sarawak.
