Only 100 visitors a day allowed at all Sabah parks

A scenic view of one of the five islands in Tunku Abdul Rahman national marine park in Kota Kinabalu.

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah Parks has limited the number of visitors to 100 a day at all 24 parks and marine parks in the state as restrictions on domestic travel are eased.

Parks director Maklarin Lakim said the limit will be enforced at all parks and national parks, including Kinabalu park and on Mount Kinabalu.

“By lowering the numbers we will have better control of the crowds especially on the use of washrooms and other facilities,” he said on a visit to the Tunku Abdul Rahman marine park here today, which reopened to visitors.

Tunku Abdul Rahman Park is one of the most visited marine parks in the state with over 300,000 visitors per year during the peak of Sabah’s tourism boom.

The national park is located between 3km and 8km from Kota Kinabalu and comprises the islands of Gaya, Manukan, Sulug, Batu Sapi and Mamutik.

Sabah Parks staff in full protection gear at the Sapi island visitor centre.

Mount Kinabalu, a world heritage site, and the national Kinabalu Park is also one of the state’s most lucrative tourism destinations in Sabah.

Maklarin said people are still not keen to come out due to the movement control order and because it is still the middle of the fasting month. He was confident that the number of visitors would pick up eventually.

Sabah registered a 16.4 per cent drop in tourists (both international and domestic) to 567,108 compared with 678,128 tourists in the same period last year due to Covid-19. - FMT