SIBU: The rich tourism products in Sarawak need to be aggressively promoted to entice more tourists, said Sarawak Tourism Minister Datuk Amar Abang Johari Tun Openg who wants the private sector to contribute its bit.
“I am going to Hong Kong next week to promote the whole of Sarawak to see what will be the response there. We have to really do aggressive promotion.
“But I would like the private sector to follow. I notice the private sector is quite slow as they expect the government to do the whole lot,” Abang Johari, who is also Housing Minister told reporters here yesterday.
Adding on, he said the problem with the private sector was that they did not want to follow despite logistics, accommodation and so on being borne by the government.
Hence, what the private sector was required of was merely to take part in the promotion, he added.
“What is important is private sector must be active.”
Asked on the calls by Sibu folk, including business community for direct flights to Singapore and Kota Kinabalu, he said he was aware of the signature campaign from the media.
The campaign to be launched here today is to garner 300,000 signatures to convince airlines to introduce direct flights to Sibu, particularly the Sibu-Kota Kinabalu, Sibu-Singapore and Sibu-Fuzhou routes.
Abang Johari said for airlines to come, there must be loads.
The aircraft, he explained, must be filled with passengers.
Otherwise, it would withdraw after a short period of time if it could not sustain, he said.
Continue reading at: Private sector needed to promote Sarawak in Hong Kong
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