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Is Sabah Ready for Visit Malaysia Year 2014?
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ourism is a major source of revenue and one of the most profitable
sectors, where the spill over effects will be felt by all Malaysians. And
Sabah has a vibrant tourism industry and hopes that Visit Malaysia Year
2014 (VMY2014) will be a big success.
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connecting Kota Kinabalu to Kota Bahru (Kelantan) Malaysia’s North-Eastern
Peninsula capital and gateway to Southern Thailand, 3x-weekly, with full
capacity in the next few months. And in December 2013 AirAsia also
launched its Kota Kinabalu-Cebu direct flight 3x weekly.
According to Datuk Seri Panglima Masidi Manjun, Minister of Tourism,
Culture and Environment Sabah, since 2008 the arrival of tourist to Malaysia
has increased by leaps and bounds.
Datuk Dr. Ong Hong Peng, General Secretary Ministry of Tourism Malaysia
said that in the preparation of the Visit Malaysia Year (VMY) 2014, a whole
projection of promotion was held.
“In 2008, a total of 22 million tourists visited our country and the numbers
have been rising since, and by 2012, a total of 25 million tourists have
visited Malaysia,” he said.
“2013 was a comprehensive year for us and we want the tourism industry
players in Sabah to work closely together. What we are trying to do is to
keep Malaysia clean and green. We also intended to hype up tourism quality
and services and also tourism destinations and maintenance aspects, and
build up the mind-set of those involved in tourism, and display Malaysian
hospitality,” he said.
He disclosed that out of the national total Sabah contributed a total of
2.3 million tourists in 2008 and 2.876 million in 2012, and added that the
Sabah government is very optimistic in further developing the industry, and
ensuring the tourism sector in Sabah will progress to its fullest potential.
“The national income from tourism industry also showed an increase from
RM49.5 billion in 2008 to RM60.6 billion in 2012,” he said.
Sabah made good progress in tourism business, the first-10 months of 2013.
There were increased air accessibility and flight-frequencies into Sabah with
more airlines connecting from regional capitals and cities into Kota Kinabalu,
including record arrivals of charter flights from the region.
In October 2013, Malaysia Airlines re-launched its Kota Kinabalu-Tokyo
3x-weekly direct flights and added a second-direct flight direct to and from
Perth, Australia. A month later, AirAsia launched its direct domestic flights
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The Ministry of Tourism has organized the VMY campaign three times,
starting in 1990, 2004 and in 2007 the VMY coincided with the celebration of
the 50th year of Merdeka. The VMY campaigns have had a positive impact on
tourism with tourist arrivals increasing at an all-time high.
DEMAND FOR ECO-TOURISM
According to the president of the Malaysian Tourist Guides Council (MTGC)
Jimmy Leong, “Tourists are moving away from wanting to visit big cities and
are now more interested in seeing the beauty of nature in the countries
they visit.” Therefore, the MTGC chose to kick off VMY2014 with a community
service project in Kundasang, Sabah.
Aimed at promoting Sabah as a tourist destination, the tourist guides from