Sabah keen to draw more tourists from India

Many wealthy Indians have held lavish weddings in tourist spots in Sabah, bringing in their own cooks and planes.

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah is making sure it is not left out from staking a claim to a piece of the tourism pie with Malaysian tourism authorities targeting one million tourists from India annually by 2020.

Malaysia has been one of the popular vacation destinations for Indian tourists, with 638,578 tourist arrivals recorded from the country in 2016.

There were 449,599 Indian tourist arrivals recorded between January and October last year.

Joniston Bangkuai

Sabah Tourism Board chairman Joniston Bangkuai said efforts have been made to tap into the lucrative Indian market, adding Indians already find the state a good holiday destination.

“We have sent our marketing people to India. We are also arranging bloggers and travel agents from India to come to Sabah.

“In fact, we have already had very grand weddings by Indian visitors in resorts here.

“They brought their own cooks and also flew in their own planes,” he told FMT.

He said Sabah is already well-known for its nature destinations, adding the state will need to further expand aspects like tourism products, accommodation, hospitality, among others to cater to and prepare for the expected arrivals.

Bangkuai also said the state tourism strategy not only involved drawing Indian tourists but also from other potentially big markets.

“A huge chunk of our tourists now are from China. But we have to look at new and emerging markets,” he said.

Tourism Malaysia chairman Siew Ka Wei had said they foresee tourist arrivals from India growing by over 20% this year, adding the one million mark could be achieved by 2020.

Sabah Deputy Chief Minister Joseph Pairin Kitingan has attributed kindness and hospitality to being among the major factors why the state has become one of the top destinations for visitors from neighbouring countries.

The state recorded its highest tourism receipts ever, at RM7.25 billion, in 2016 from 3.43 million tourist arrivals.

 recorded 3.67 million arrivals last year, exceeding its target of 3.55 million, and expects to hit a higher amount of RM7.7 billion in receipts.

Aggressive marketing and promotion activities, as well as exciting and viable products, have been described as some of the contributors to Sabah’s success in the tourism sector.

And to cater for this arrival growth, Sabah Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Masidi Manjun said the state cabinet will speed up the construction of hotels to accommodate the increasing number of tourists to Sabah.

While Sabah is in dire need of hotels, he said the authorities will ensure the places of stay built are reputable and of the highest quality.

Meanwhile, Kiulu, about 40km from the state capital, is also raring to tap into the Indian market, aspiring to be the adventure tourism hub in Sabah.

Dr Edmon Guntis.

Kiulu Tourism Association president Dr Edmon Guntis said plans were afoot to improve what they already have.

“We’ve got the products already. We just need to refine them.

“We got the whitewater rafting industry, for example, but we need to get the facilities up to international standards. We also need more guides, more trails (for jungle trekking) and we need to map these trails. This will take time,” he said.

He added that they are also thinking of the preferences by certain tourist groups.

“When it comes to certain segments of the market, there are certain requirements.

“For instance, in the Indian market, many are Hindus. They prefer vegetarian food, which we can provide in Kiulu,” Guntis said.

“For Muslim travellers, we will need to provide halal-certified establishments so they can feel more comfortable. And Chinese tourists prefer very comfortable accommodations, three-star upwards.

“We don’t have that yet in Kiulu. That is something to be improved with the help of investors. But we do need to balance this with providing an authentic experience.

“We can have five-star accommodations but it has to be planned in such a way that it doesn’t disturb the environment. It will still be authentic in terms of the hospitality provided and food (among others),” he said. -FMT