KUCHING: Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah have assured that international and local events would still go on.
“If there is any cancellation or postponement, it will be made known to the media.
“There will be some that will be deferred, those that involved foreigners from those countries that are imposed of travel restriction due to Covid-19.
“Because of this, some of the events may be postponed,” he told reporters at a press conference after chairing the Sarawak Tourism Steering Committee meeting at Pullman Hotel here yesterday.
Among the events affected, he said, was the international junior tennis championship.
“Currently, we have the Sarawak Chief Minister’s Cup ITF World Tennis Tour J1 ongoing, with the Asia/Aceania Final Qualifying of the Junior Davies Cup to be held a week later.
“Sarawak Lawn Tennis Association (SLTA) president Datuk Patrick Liew has informed me that they have deferred the tournament to July partly because of Covid-19.
“This is because the players from Europe are not able to make it due to some of the countries being on the travel restriction list,” he continued.
Abdul Karim hoped that other events such as the Rainforest World Music Festival (RWMF), Rainforest World Music Festival Fringe (RWMFF) and Spartan Race would go on as scheduled.
He was optimistic that the Spartan Race would still be held as most participants are from Singapore, Indonesia and America, and not Europe.
He also advised all parties, including event organisers, to adhere to strict precautionary measures to prevent the spread of Covid-19.
On restricted flights, he revealed that the only affected was Royal Brunei Airlines’ Bandar Seri Begawan to Bintulu route.
“There will be an announcement on this matter. But I will wait for the details. That might be the only one affected.”
