Sabah Sets Higher Target For Tourism

A target of about 2.4 million visitors to Sabah has been set for this year.The target comes after Sabah, dubbed the Land Below The Wind, met last year's goal of 2.3 million tourists.Expressing confidence in meeting this year's target, State Minister of Tourism, Culture and Environment Datuk Masidi Manjun said the ministry had outlined several strategies to boost tourist arrivals, particularly in terms of air connectivity.

"Good air connectivity is important for Sabah to excel in the tourism sector because 94 per cent of visitors to the state, come via air transportation."I will be fying to Perth, Australia, on Jan 16 to formally flag off a direct flight service to Kota Kinabalu."This is part of our efforts to increase the number of tourist arrivals, thereby, galvanising the booming tourism industry in Sabah," he told reporters after launching the 5th Airports Council International (ACI) Asia-Pacific Human Resources Best Practice seminar, here Wednesday.

Masidi said close cooperation between the state government and airline companies was vital in realising the desired result, particularly new destinations.He had earlier thanked ACI Asia Pacific and Malaysia Airports Holding Berhad for hosting the event in Kota Kinabalu.Masidi said in the age of globalisation, the competition in acquiring talent, was a great challenge facing all sectors of business."We should learn from each other to keep ourselves informed of the latest developments and stay ahead of competition," he added.

Source = bernama