CHINA, NORTH ASIA TOURISTS TO BOOST ARRIVALS

Ellron: China, North Asia tourists to boost arrivals

KOTA KINABALU 2nd July, 2012: Tourist arrivals to Sabah are expected to be boosted with tourists coming from China and North Asian countries, said Assistant Minister of Tourism, Culture & Environment, Datuk Ellron Alfred Angin, while officiating at the Sabah Hotels Association (SHA) Carnival Night 2012 here, on Saturday night.

“2011 has seen 2,844,598 tourist arrivals to the state making up of 845,910 international arrivals and 1,998,687 domestic arrivals respectively. This trend is expected to increase with the shift of tourist arrivals coming from China and North Asian countries,” Ellron disclosed.

He also said that negotiations are under way to secure more flights into Sabah from these market destinations.

Ellron praised Sabah Hotel Association for having been actively involved in the promotion of tourism resulting in the First Sabah Festival launching being included into the Yearly programmes of the Sabah Tourism Calendar.

“Our Ministry will continue pushing forward in our direction and thrust to promote and attract both overseas and domestic tourists to Sabah,” he said.

The President of SHA, Christopher Chan, said: “SHA has actively participated in various government agencies programmes on new laws and guidelines and are appreciative of the changes that would benefit the growing needs of the industry.”

Christopher called on SHA members to be more receptive in terms of business networking with other members to enhance their business.

“Have more communication and interaction among the other members and endeavour to attend the SHA General Meeting and monthly luncheon,” he urged.

Christopher also highlighted the issue of standardisation of services which have improved and become modernized overall and maintaining it at the consistent level is becoming more challenging that it requires the cooperation from everyone involved.

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Tourism To Earn RM168 Billion For Country By 2020 - Dawos

BAU (Sarawak), July 2 (Bernama) -- Malaysia's rapidly developing tourism industry is expected to be one of the largest contributors to the country's economy by 2020, said Deputy Tourism Minister Datuk Dr James Dawos Mamit.

He said that with promotions and new products, earnings from tourism could reach RM168 billion, up from the present RM83 billion.

"Last year, foreign visitors contributed RM58.3 billion to earnings and domestic tourists, RM25 billion," he said at the closing of a Gawai celebration here last night.

Dawos said Sarawak maintained its record as the state with the highest number of domestic tourists, at 22 per cent, followed by Kuala Lumpur, 18 per cent, and Pahang and Johor, 16 per cent each.