Kampung Santubong Homestay best in Malaysia

KUCHING: Kampung Santubong Homestay (KSH) added another feather to its cap when it won the Outstanding Entrepreneur Award for Clustered Homestay at the national-level ‘One District One Industry’ (SDSI) 2016 showcase held at the Melaka International Trade Centre recently.

For this recognition as the best managed homestay in the country, KSH bagged a cash prize of RM3,500, a trophy and a certificate.

Since its inception in 2008, KSH has won numerous recognitions and awards including Best Homestay during the 2009/2010 Sarawak Hornbill Tourism Awards and the Asean Homestay Award from Asean Homestay Standard (AHS) last year.

“I feel happy to receive this award as it means a lot to us after eight years of struggle,” said KSH coordinator Jamilah Shukri,

“It is hoped that by winning this award, we can motivate and inspire other homestay operators in Sarawak to achieve (their) greatest potential and make the state proud by winning local and international homestay competitions.”

Jamilah plans to help develop the state’s tourism industry by actively promoting and selling local products especially those from Santubong.

“We want to make our tourism products known throughout the state, country and the world.

“I am also planning to organise training programmes to encourage more homestay operators to be among the best in the country and win awards like what KSH has achieved throughout the years,” said Jamilah.

The winners for the recently concluded national-level SDSI 2016 showcase were selected by the Ministry of Tourism and Culture.

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Tip of Borneo - Feeling on top of the world

THE road to Kudat was bumpy. The six of us in the eight-seater van were tired after three hours of travelling on Sabah’s inland road from Kota Kinabalu.

My bottom was bruised from all the bumping. I was so relieved when we reached our destination — the very tip of Borneo, the third largest island in the world, after Greenland and New Guinea.

Its northern-most tip is the meeting point of two big seas, the South China Sea and the Sulu Sea.

My heart pounded hard as I walked the tiled road on a small shrubby hill fronting the coast.

The wind whipped past as I reached the top and touched a bronze globe that had a map telling me exactly where I was.

The spot where I planted my feet was Tanjung Simpang Mengayau, famously known as The Tip Of Borneo.

Standing next to the globe was a tall pole bearing the Malaysian flag. It fluttered in the wind, reaching for the blue sky.

I gingerly made my way to the edge of the headland, rising from the sea like a rocky loaf. Below, the waves pounded mercilessly.

The churning waters and the strong winds over the ages had left natural patterns on the slope of the cliff face.

The patterns looked like sea waves, tinted with pastel shades of light brown and off-white against the rugged greyish-black rocky headland.

The Tip of Borneo is one of the most stunning spots I have ever come across in our country.

And being there felt as awesome as being at the southernmost tip of mainland Asia at Tanjung Piai in south-west Johor.

Standing at both tips made me feel like a tiny pinhead on the world map.

But I must say that the view at Tanjung Simpang Mengayau is far more spell-binding than at marshy Tanjung Piai.

The coastline in this part of Sabah is treacherous. Ships had sunk in the area.

A lighthouse on Pulau Kalampunian, visible from the headland, is a reminder of past shipwrecks. The cape was also a battleground in the old days.

It was originally called Tanjung (cape) Sampang (junction) Mangazou (battle) in the language of the Rungus, the natives of Kudat.

Their forefathers had fought fierce battles to defend Rungus territory against invading enemies, including the Moro pirates who terrorised the Sulu Sea.

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Diamond Princess cruise ship docks in Sabah, lured by its natural and cultural gems

KOTA KINABALU: Singapore’s Diamond Princess made its first stop in Sabah today, cruising in with 3,806 international tourists and crew members on board.

Princess Cruises Southeast Asia said the Diamond Princess is making its debut in Kota Kinabalu for the first time in its homeporting season for 2016-2017 in Southeast Asia.

According to Farriek Tawfik, Princess Cruises Southeast Asia director, the company has been exploring possibilities to include Kota Kinabalu into its cruise itinerary thanks to Sabah’s natural beauty and exotic cultural elements.

“We are venturing here because the Malaysian government has identified Kota Kinabalu as one of the three ports in the country that has significant potential to attract more visitors. 

“Princess Cruises is answering this call by bringing in inbound tourists to experience first-hand Kota Kinabalu’s many historical landmarks and attractions in our specially curated shore excursions.”

Speaking to reporters during a media briefing, Farriek said the move to make Sabah as one of its port of call was planned about three years ago.

“We took two to three years to explore and do our research on what Kota Kinabalu has to offer and (realised) that there is a big potential.

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Sarawak’s rich history, culture a tourism draw

ONE of the factors drawing tourists to Sarawak is the state’s rich history, heritage and culture.

Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Datuk Amar Abang Johari Tun Openg said the construction of the new Sarawak Museum Campus would once against put Sarawak museum back on the world map as among the best in the region in terms of collections such as ethnographic, archaeological, zoological and historical specimens.

“The construction of the new museum building is expected to be completed in 2018 and will be opened to visitors by 2020 once its displays and exhibits are put in place,” he said during his ministerial winding up speech at the State Legislative Assembly yesterday.

Abang Johari said conservation and upgrading works on old forts throughout Sarawak would be carried out under the 11th Malaysia Plan (2016-2020).

“Five forts will be conserved and upgraded into regional museums. Work on three of the forts will start in early 2017 and the remaining two will commence in 2018.”

He stated that the construction of the Santubong Archaeological Park which would incorporate the Wallace Centre would start in 2017, adding that this new product development would enhance the tourism attraction in and around Santubong Peninsular.

“To uplift the cultural aura of Kuching as the City of Unity and to provide a permanent venue incorporating the latest state of the arts facilities, and technology, the Old State Legislative Assembly (DUN) building will be converted into a performing arts centre.

“This will act as a centre for arts, music and dance enthusiasts to congregate and showcase their skills and talents. Consultancy work to upgrade the old DUN building will commence in 2017.”

Moving out from the city area, Abang Johari said the homestay programme which was becoming more popular, would be further enhanced in terms of capacity building and product diversification in line with the Community Based Eco-Tourism Stategy (CBET).

“The number of homestay operators has increased from year to year – 35 homestays and 515 operators have so far registered under this programme and a few more have undergone training and awareness programmes.

“As of September 2016, a total of 23,292 tourists visited the homestays bringing in an estimated revenue of RM3 million to the local community.”

He said events and festivals continued to lure both domestic and foreign tourists and at the same time providing business opportunities to the locals.

Abang Johari said the 19th edition of the Rainforest World Music Festival, which was held at Sarawak Cultural Village from August 5 to 6, was attended by a ratio of 63 per cent Malaysians to 37 per cent non-Malaysians with the highest percentage from UK, US, Australia and Singapore.

The spin-off to the economy was estimated at RM35 million, he added.

For the first time this year, he said Sarawak Tourism Board collaborated with Malaysia Association of Hotels (MAH) and Malaysia Shopping Malls Association to create activities for two months prior to the festival, which ensured that festivities were not centred around the Damai area only.

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Sarawak targets 5 million visitors next year

SARAWAK is targeting five million visitor arrivals and RM10.68 billion in tourism receipt next year.

Sarawak Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Datuk Amar Abang Johari Tun Openg said the state received 3,785,175 (3.79 million) visitors from January to October this year, an increase of 1.02 per cent from 3,746,933 (3.75 million) in the same period last year.

“It has generated an estimated tourism receipt of RM7.5 billion,” he said in his ministerial winding-up speech at the State Legislative Assembly sitting yesterday.

Abang Johari stated that based on past trend of average arrivals for the month of November to December, his Ministry was anticipating 4.7 million visitor arrivals into Sarawak in 2016, an increase of 4.4 per cent from 4.5 million in 2015.

He said the Sarawak tourism sector was expected to generate tourism receipt of RM10.18 billion or a 3.1 per cent increase, contributing about 10 per cent to the state gross domestic product (GDP) in 2016.

Abang Johari said on the national front, Malaysia was experiencing its first recovery in tourist arrivals from January to September this year.

“Malaysia received 17,611,563 (17.6 million) tourists from January to September 2016, an increase of 3.8 per cent from 16,965,885 (16.97 million) in the same period of 2015.

“Tourism receipt increased by 10.7 per cent in the first half of this year, contributing RM37.4 billion to the country’s revenue against RM33.8 billion in 2015.

For this year, Malaysia was expecting to receive 30.5 million tourists, bringing in RM103 billion in tourism receipts.

“Tourism Malaysia is targeting 31.8 million tourist arrivals and RM118 billion in tourism receipts in 2017.”

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