Monday, March 12, 2012

Tourism can be Miri’s trump card

MIRI: It seems to require a lot of imagination to picture Miri as the green, vibrant resort city that its tagline so proudly proclaims.

One of the most common grouses we hear from locals is that Miri has no life. There’s nothing to do, and if given the choice most people would choose to take their holidays elsewhere rather than stay in the area.

If even the locals are saying there’s nothing to do here, what about the tourists?

In recent years, much has been said about the poor air connectivity between Miri and other places. Local tour agencies argue that the lack of flights to Miri has resulted in dropping tourist numbers.

We were told that the city’s tourism industry relies significantly on tourists who stopover on their way to Mulu. The emergence of direct flights to Mulu from Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, and from Kuching — thus bypassing Miri altogether — has added pressure to the struggling local players.

But upon closer inspection, poor air connectivity is not the sole reason behind Miri’s poor showing as a tourism destination.

Airlines are businesses for profit. If market demand is strong enough the airlines would be more than happy to add as many flights to and from Miri as they can profit from.

But if the passenger load is not sufficient, there is little reason for airlines to put in more flights.

As it stands, the most viable way to increase air connectivity to Miri is for the city to focus on investing in its own tourism assets. The city should not just rely on its previous monopoly as the gateway to Mulu.

Miri must seek to unearth, polish and market its own potential so that tourists will have reason to come and stay.

Can Miri stand alone without Mulu as a tourism destination? The short answer to that appears to be yes, but much groundwork still needs to be laid.

One of the advantages that Miri has is that local tourism assets appear to be pretty much a blank canvas, ready to be shaped and molded into whatever products and packages the government and private sector see fit.

Take local beaches for instance.

People living in Miri currently have unfettered access to some of the most beautiful, unspoilt coastline in the state, including Tanjong Lobang, Luak Esplenade, and the manmade Marina Bay.

Continue reading (Incl. Pics) at: Tourism can be Miri’s trump card
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