KUCHING: Sarawak has received a total of 1.141 million tourists arrival as of September 2022.
Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Arts Minister Datuk Seri Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah said at this rate, the state’s target of having 1.2 million tourists for the year 2022 should be surpassed by the end of the month.
“That being said for foreigners, from January to September 2022, around 313,000 tourists came to Sarawak. So I believe we will hit the target, but not the target that we are expecting like the previous years, which is four million,” he told reporters after officiating the BESarawak” Tribal Gathering 2022 at Borneo Convention Centre Kuching (BCCK) today (Oct 17).
He also added that compared to last year, only 15,532 tourists had come to Sarawak due to the restrictions posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“For this year, our tourism revenue as of September 2022 is RM2.72 billion compared to last year, which is only RM213 million,” he said.
Abdul Karim said foreigners who visited Sarawak this year are mostly from Brunei, Indonesia and Singapore.
He added that he was pleased to see that foreigners are putting Sarawak in their list of places to visit, adding that distance may be a factor for their visit.
“If you truly look at the distance between Sarawak and Singapore, it is only one hour away.
“Apart from that, we are able to give the assurance that they are safe while enjoying their trip here in the state,” he said.
