Tenom: Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman said holding various ethnic cultural festivals is important in ensuring continuity of the State's cultural heritage which can, otherwise, be easily forgotten due to globalisation.
He said these ethnic festivals not only make the ethnics concerned more known and popular but attract more tourists.
Last year, Sabah continued to record an increase in tourist arrivals to 2.3 million, compared to 1.25 million in 2003.
The country is also estimated to receive over 24 million tourists by next year and the expected income to be generated will be about RM59 billion.
In terms of employment, this is expected to provide 520,700 jobs.
Musa, who is also State Finance Minister, was speaking at the Kalimaran Festival 2009 themed "Kalimaran Towards Progressive Community" held at the Murut Cultural Centre in Polong, about 13km from town, Saturday.
His speech was read by State Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun.
He is also proud with the tourism development in Tenom which apart from the cultural centre also had other interesting and popular tourism products including white water rafting, Sabah Agriculture Park in Lagud Sebrang, Crocker Range, Tenom Coffee, and so on.
Musa also suggested that Kalimaran Festival be upgraded into one of the State's tourism products.
Continue reading at: Pesta Kalimaran: Best means of keeping heritage alive
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