KUCHING: Tom Low Sing Ho started to travel within Sarawak during the COVID-19 pandemic two years ago and he was surprised to discover numerous breath-taking hidden gems sprinkled throughout the state.
The 33-year-old man from Bintulu was fascinated by the spectacular natural wonders in the state and wanted to share his experience to encourage more people to explore Sarawak as well as to make their journey easy without too much hassle.
“I used to travel a lot (outside Sarawak) as a backpacker until the world was hit by COVID-19 in 2020 with various standard operating procedures (SOPs) and movement restrictions – I can only travel in Sarawak.”
“Then, I realised that Sarawak is indeed a land of natural beauty as it is blessed with so many breath-taking natural wonders and hidden gems, however, it lacks facilities and networks to reach these places.
“This has led me to the idea of setting up Bless Borneo Camper, offering camping gear and equipment rental and organising camping events,” he told New Sarawak Tribune.
Bless Borneo Camper, Low said, provides (camping gear) rental services to make camping easy and at the same time to promote local tourism and adventurous vacations in Sarawak.
He was also looking forward to organising camping events with school or family association as well as building and setting up a glamping site – as his targeted market would be families with children.
“I am considering a few locations in Betong as well as other areas that are near to natural spots, such as beaches, waterfalls or rivers – to build a glamping site. I also welcomed any individuals or organizations to discuss the possibilities to collaborate with,” he said.
Glamping, which derived from the words ‘glamorous’ and ‘camping’ describes a style of camping with amenities and, in some cases, resort-style services.
Low said their initial idea was to bring in a campervan to Sarawak, to travel and live in the car, from Kuching to Lahad Datu in Sabah or even to Indonesia.
However, later they found that there weren’t any sufficient facilities such as a refilling station, camping site or caravan park to support the campervan journey.
“Since there are no caravan parks or facilities in Sarawak for campervans to stop by along the route. Therefore, we are thinking of setting up glamping sites within Sarawak,” he said.
When asked about the challenges in setting up his business, Low said one of the biggest challenges he met so far was to choose the camping gear, as there were thousands of choices and designs. In addition, looking for spaces and methods to store them was another problem.
“I hope to overcome the major challenges and find a suitable land to start our first glamping site by July this year,” he said.
Low, who graduated as environmental engineer in Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR) Kampar – was announced as one of the Top Five winners of Sarawak for Shell LiveWIRE programme 2021, last month. He was awarded a RM15,000 seed grant from Shell Malaysia and Tabung Ekonomi Gagasan Anak Bumiputera Sarawak (TEGAS).
It was Shell’s flagship enterprise development programme, to promote entrepreneurship, stimulate local economies and economic diversification through innovation, and meaningful employment.
The programme took entrepreneurs through a series of workshops to assist them in generating or enhancing their business ideas, business models as well as to prepare them to be successful business owners who could market their business ideas for further growth.
As a start-up, Low said has benefited from the programme as they were mentored by experience guidance, helpful suggestions and resources. He would be using the to buy camping equipment as his company asset and to cover site survey expenses.
“An idea is just an idea if we never try, so I am thankful that my friend introduced me to this programme and I decided to join as I want to know if my idea can work into a plan,” he added
