John Teo
KUCHING (Oct 24): Kuching achieved a hotel occupancy rate of 78 per cent up to September this year due to a line-up of activities and events, said the Malaysian Association of Hotels (MAH) Sarawak chapter.
According to chapter chairman John Teo, a higher occupancy rate could have been possible if more foreign direct flights landed in Sarawak at Kuching International Airport, including flights from China, South Korea, and Japan.
“The setback at the moment is that most of the foreign flights land only at Kuala Lumpur International Airport and tourists have to transit to get into Sarawak cities and towns,” he said in a statement.
He pointed out tourists prefer to reach their destinations directly without transiting in other places to save time.
As for other divisions in Sarawak, Teo said Sibu had the lowest hotel occupancy with star rated hotels at a low 40 per cent, while smaller inns and motels or budget hotels achieved a low 25 per cent.
He pointed out most hotel guests in Sibu are Sarawakian salesmen and 2023 has been relatively quiet for the hospitality industry there.
“Bintulu surprisingly has a much better occupancy than other towns in Sarawak. This is due to many industrial parks that occupy much of Bintulu’s land, directly offering higher occupancy in accommodation providers,” he said.
The average occupancy rate in Bintulu has reached 87 per cent with many occupants being long-term guests staying in hotels or motels, said Teo.
He said Miri achieved an average hotel occupancy rate of 55 per cent, with weekdays recording just a 35 per cent rate while on weekends it goes up to 85 per cent due to Bruneian tourists travelling there.
“One hardly sees (other) foreign tourists in Miri due to no direct foreign flights into Miri except from Scoot Singapore. Do take note that Miri has only a domestic airport and not an international airport,” he said.
He added hotel occupancy is expected to further improve with school holidays in Sarawak from Dec 16 until Jan 1, while Brunei’s school holidays will be from Dec 1-31.
“Year-end business for hospitality industry is always at its best, especially in the month of December whereby school holiday started.
“We will be expecting Miri hotels, places of interest, food and beverage outlets, shopping malls, and others to be full of Bruneians as well as our own Sarawakians travelling within Sarawak,” he said.