Sabah sees a rise in number of Chinese tourist arrivals

By Arman Gunsika

KOTA KINABALU - Chinese tourist arrivals in Sabah are steadily rising despite the overall national figure falling dramatically, State Assistant Minister of Tourism, Culture and Enivronment Datuk Karim Bujang said.

Sabah is not affected by the controversy surrounding the nude squats where allegedly a Beijing woman was forced to do in a police lock up in the peninsula recently.

It was reported that only 202,620 Chinese came to Malaysia between January and August this year, representing a 47.8 per cent drop from the same period last year. However, Sabah maintains to receive about 30,000 Chinese tourists last year, more than the previous years. Datuk Karim said most of the problems that cropped up in the peninsula did not happen in Sabah and that tour operators in the State are working very well with their Beijing counterparts.

Some of the Chinese tourists came through chartered flights, direct to Sabah and the rest from West Malaysia, he said. According to Karim, Sabah should be able to maintain - if not increase a little - the number of arrivals from China. Nevertheless, Karim said Sabah is not immune to complaints from tourists and among these were signboards and direction signs.

Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin