Abdul Karim fielding questions from the media. – Photo by Roystein Emmor
KUCHING (June 24): Sarawak recorded over 2 million visitors as of May this year, said Minister of Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Arts Dato Sri Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah.
He expressed his hopes the state will hit its target of 4 million visitors by September or October this year.
“I can see the number of visitor arrivals from Jan-May this year and I can see they are more than the figures recorded in the same period last year. Up until May, we already recorded 2.06 million visitors so personally, I feel this year we will have the most number of visitors because the highest number of visitors was in 2019, which was 4.6 million.
“I believe by Sept or Oct this year, we will hit the 4 million visitors target but this time, we might even receive 5 million visitors,” he told reporters when met at the ‘Dancing Queen Tribute Concert’ at the Borneo Convention Centre Kuching (BCCK) on Sunday.
He said since there will be a lot of visitors coming in to attend the Rainforest World Music Festival this weekend, he said he received feedback that visitors are finding it hard to find lodgings in Kuching.
However, he viewed this as a “good problem” as it shows tourism in Sarawak is thriving.
On new hotels, Abdul Karim said three more hotels have been approved but when would the private sector build them is a different matter.
“They should do it fast because every year we will be having continuous events and we need more hotels (to accommodate more visitors). However, even if the hotels are not 5-star hotels we also welcome 3-star hotels and homestays are also very much welcomed,” he added.