THE Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Arts Ministry is focusing on developing eco-tourism and community-based tourism this year, said its Minister Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah.
He asserted that the initiatives were in line with Sarawak’s Post COVID-19 Development Strategy (PCDS) 2030.
“One of the outcomes in the tourism sector is to increase community-based tourism by 20 per cent with emphasis on increasing the household income of the participating local communities,” he said when delivering his ministerial winding-up speech today.
He said his ministry’s objective was to increase homestay clusters and capacity building of the local communities by adding value to their products and services.
“These will prepare the tourism industry operators and frontliners for the return of visitors,” he stressed.
Abdul Karim said state was also in the process of nominating Niah National Park as its second World Heritage Site under the mixed category for natural and cultural heritage.
“The International Conference on Niah National Park for UNESCO World Heritage Site Nomination, is jointly organised by my ministry, Ministry of Natural Resources and Urban Development (MUDeNR), Sarawak Museum Department and Sarawak Forestry Corporation at Pullman Waterfront Hotel in Miri.
“Various efforts and tasks have been undertaken by all stakeholders to complete the ‘Draft Dossier’ for voluntary submission to UNESCO, targeted in September 2022, and the ‘Final Dossier’ would be submitted by February 2023,” he added.
Apart from that, he said the Sarawak Museum Department was given the honour to host the 2022 Conference of the International Society for Academic Research on Shamanism (ISARS) from (Aug 25 to Aug 28) at the Borneo Cultures Museum (BCM).
Karim said the conference was historic in that it was the first conference on shamanism to be held in Malaysia.
“BCM is now seen as a benchmark for other museums in Malaysia and abroad, and has received overwhelming response from the public, with the highest number of visitors in one day at 7,137 on May 16.”
