Thursday, November 18, 2010

Tune Hotels Bintulu to help spur tourism, business within SCORE

KUCHING: The opening of Tune Hotels’ latest property in Bintulu scheduled for January 3, 2011 is testimony to the company’s commitment to Sarawak and will further promote and develop the state’s tourism and travel industry, in particular within the Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy (SCORE) belt, said Tune Hotels group chief executive officer, Mark Lankester.

According to the company’s press statement, the 101-room Tune Hotels Bintulu would be the pioneering limited-service hotel chain’s second hotel in Sarawak, making it the only state other than Selangor to have more than one Tune Hotel. The first Tune Hotel in Sarawak opened at the Kuching Waterfront in 2009.

Apart from Bintulu, Tune Hotels Kota Bharu in Kelantan (173 rooms) was also slated for opening on January 23, 2011, making it a double celebration for Tune Hotels as it ushered in the new year.

Commenting on the Bintulu hotel, Lankester said, “Bintulu’s strategic location in central Sarawak, coupled with good air connectivity to Kuala Lumpur, Kuching and other towns as well as being on the massive Trans-Borneo highway between Kuching and Kota Kinabalu, presents enormous potential for the development of tourism as well as other priority industries under SCORE. The opening of Tune Hotels Bintulu will not only provide more convenience and comfort to tourists and holidaymakers to the ‘Gas Town’ but also those on business trips there.”

Bintulu was famed as Malaysia’s main producer of liquefied natural gas (LNG) but more recently has been identified as one of the growth areas under SCORE. Bintulu is the gateway to Samalaju, one of SCORE’s five major growth nodes, aside from Tanjung Manis, Mukah, Baram and Tunoh. Bintulu is also an important access point to Bakun, Southeast Asia’s largest hydroelectric dam.

The press release further pointed out that SCORE was launched in 2008; a major initiative undertaken to develop the Sarawak Central Region and transform the state into a developed one by 2020. It was aimed at accelerating the state’s economic growth and development, as well as improving the quality of life for the people of Sarawak. SCORE was officially launched in Bintulu by the then Prime Minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

The core of the corridor was the energy resources, particularly hydropower, coal and natural gas found abundantly within the Sarawak Central Region. This would allow Sarawak to price its energy competitively and encourage investments in power generation and energy-intensive industries that would act as triggers for the development of a vibrant industrial development in the corridor.

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