Tourism to help change Sabah

KOTA KINABALU: With its rich natural beauty and mystique, Sabah has great potential to be a world-class tourist destination.

From being home to South-East Asia’s highest peak Mount Kinabalu to the diving haven of Sipadan, Sabah has many untapped natural attractions and with next week’s launch of the Sabah Development Corridor (SDC), tourism looks set to be the leading economic driver.

To the local industry players, tourism is the most sustainable economic sector compared with manufacturing or agriculture.

Sabah Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun, who strongly believes that tourism will always remain a product that will bring in foreign exchange and provide steady income, said: “If you look at it, we have seen factories fold up and investors leave for cheaper labour markets like Vietnam or China, agriculture has its limits in terms of land available and locals hardly benefit from jobs in these sectors, unlike in tourism where the industry is driven by locals, basically in every aspect of the sector.

“This is where tourism will be sustainable and will bring direct and indirect benefits to the people in urban or rural areas,” Masidi said in an interview ahead of the launch of the SDC on Jan 29.

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