Chinese love coming to Sabah for holidays

Changzhou, a tourist city along the mid-eastern coast of China, wants to follow up on the growing Chinese interest in Sabah.

KOTA KINABALU: Changzhou, a tourist city along the mid-eastern coast of China, wants to tie up with the tourism industry in Sabah where it sees great potential. “We receive 50 million tourists a year, both domestic and foreign, and generate USD102 billion revenue a year,” said Yan Li, the Secretary of the Changzhou Municipal Committee, who led a 12-man delegation to scout tourism investment potential in Sabah. “The tourism infrastructure alone is worth USD47 billion.”

“We have five investment projects in Malaysia, all in the peninsula. We want to explore investment opportunities in Sabah and Sarawak since these are the largest states in the country and have much potential.”

He was speaking on the sidelines of paying a courtesy call on Sabah United Chinese Chamber of Commerce (SUCCC) President Gan Sau Wah.

Briefly, said Yan Li, the delegation noted that the Chinese love coming to Sabah and they feel that Changzhou should follow up on this. “Sabah has many wonderful tourist attractions including Mount Kinabalu, the highest peak in southeast Asia. The Chinese feel at home in Sabah.”

“Kinabalu is one reason that we came to Sabah.”

Gan chipped in that his association, the largest Chinese business group in Sabah, was happy to play host to the delegation from Changzhou and looks forwards to bringing together investors in the tourism industry. “We are also a constituent chamber of the Associated Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry Malaysia (ACCIM).”

He noted that the Chinese visitors from Changzhou were staying only four days in Sabah and wished that they could have spent more time in this part of Borneo.

“Besides Kinabalu, Sabah also has world-class diving spots like Sipadan, abundant wildlife and nature reserves,” said Gan.

Gan added that tourism has become a big component in the Sabah economy with services making up 47 per cent of the economy, followed by agriculture at 28 per cent, manufacturing 13 per cent, forestry and logging at only 7 per cent and mining and quarrying at 5 per cent.

The fact sheet provided to the visitors from Changzhou shows that Sabah is one of the top ten island destinations in the world for Chinese tourists, considered among the top five international diving spots, and providing value for money. Last year, Sabah had 100,000 Chinese visitors out of one million foreign tourists.

More than 20 island tourism countries including the Maldives, Seychelles, Fiji and Sri Lanka also compete for tourist dollars from China.

Of the estimated three million tourists who visit Sabah every year, two million are from Sarawak and the peninsula, mostly brought in by AirAsia.