Positioning Sabah as ASEAN’s preferred destination

Kota Kinabalu, 23 Feb 2019: The State tourism industry is further positioning Sabah as the preferred destination for the ASEAN region at the first-ever business-to-business session involving 35 travel agents from Brunei, Indonesia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Over 40 local agents, operators and hoteliers participated in the B2B session which was jointly organized by Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents (MATTA) Sabah Chapter, Sabah Tourism Board and Tourism Malaysia.

During its launch, YB Datuk Christina Liew, Sabah Deputy Chief Minister and Minister of Tourism, Culture and Environment said the Ministry is targeting a diverse range of tourists to level the number of ASEAN arrivals with the steady growth of Chinese tourists into Sabah.

Sabah recorded 1.36 million international arrivals and 2.52 million domestic arrivals which increased by 10.2% and 2.8% respectively last year, or an estimated total of RM8.342 billion tourism receipts.

Sabah’s encouraging tourism growth and development have introduced the emergence of new tourist attractions and hotels, indicating holidaymaker’s confidence in what Sabah could offer, said Datuk Tan Kok Liang, President of MATTA in his speech.

This year, Sabah focuses on promoting new tourism destinations in Eastern Sabah beyond Kota Kinabalu.