Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Sarawak targets 4 mln domestic and foreign tourists this year


SARIKEI: The state is targeting to attract four million tourists from within the country and from abroad this year.

Assistant Minister of Sarawak Tourism Datuk Talib Zulpilip said that the target was achievable given an encouraging arrival of both domestic and foreign tourists in the first five months of this year.

“Till May this year, a total of 1,701,506 tourists had visited the state. The figure represented an increase of 4.43 per cent from 1,629,366 recorded during the corresponding period last year,” he noted after a state tourism coordinating meeting at the Resident’s Office here on Monday.

To attract tourists, Talib stressed on the importance of maintaining the cleanliness of our towns and all the tourism spots in the state.

Apart from that, special attention needed to be accorded to ensure tourists really enjoyed their stay in our exotic places spiced by our friendliness, he highlighted.

“Our clean and beautiful places; comfortable surroundings and friendliness of our people can do more than just attracting the tourists to come to the state. I believe these elements can attract the tourists to come back, recommending their friends to visit the state,” he said.

There is also a need to diversify our products to ensure sustainability of our tourism industry, he added.

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