ROUTES ASIA: Sarawak Heritage on Show at Networking Evening ... - Hotel in Sarawak Blog

ROUTES ASIA: Sarawak Heritage on Show at Networking Evening ...
Investvine » Sarawak: Push for common visa with Brunei, Indonesia
Govt brainstorms to help 213 budget hotels - The Borneo Post Online

ROUTES ASIA: Sarawak Heritage on Show at Networking Evening ...

Posted: 10 Mar 2014 07:35 AM PDT

ROUTES ASIA: Sarawak Heritage on Show at Networking Evening

Delegates at this year's Routes Asia forum gained a clear view of the richness of Sarawak's unique and timeless cultural heritage as they arrived at the event's networking evening at the Hotel Pullman in Kuching. From the balconies of the hotel leading to this majestic ballroom hosting dinner, co-host, Ministry of Tourism Sarawak made every effort to afford the network planning community with a true Borneo experience.

Speaking at the event, Tan Sri Dato' Sri Dr Wan Abdul Aziz Wan Abdullah, chairman of fellow event host Malaysia Airports Holding Company, paid tribute to the opportunities the forum has provided. "Routes Asia is one excellent opportunity for the state government and stakeholders like Malaysia Airports to galvanise their efforts to allow many enablers in the aviation value chain to emerge, so that tourism and trade can flourish through the increased liberalisation of air services activities into and out of Kuching and Sarawak," he said.

"The positive economic effect of greater flight connectivity into Sarawak is undisputable and Malaysia Airports is very eager to render our full support towards the Sarawak government in order to promote Kuching and the many interesting destinations in Sarawak on the world and regional tourism maps," added Tan Sri Wan Aziz.

Tan Sri Dato' Sri Dr Wan Abdul Aziz Wan Abdullah, chairman of event co-host Malaysia Airports Holding Berhad

Despite the inevitable modernisation that a city has to embrace as part of its advancement, it is clear that Kuching has not lost any of its heritage. "It is heart-warming to know that such cultural legacy in Kuching and its interiors are still bountiful; and l am certain that Kuching has managed to capture the hearts and minds of those who have spent a few nights here," he said.

According to Tan Sri Wan Aziz, the hope now is that the record level of attendees at this year's Routes Asia will now become ambassadors for the city and Sarawak region, especially the airline delegates. "To our dignitaries of foreign airlines, you now have a verified knowledge of Kuching's tourism abundance and I hope you will return to your office with raised vigour and enthusiasm to see your airline flags flying to this city and develop the city linkages between your country and Sarawak and Malaysia," he said.

To meet the hoped for growth in demand, Tan Sri Wan Aziz also made a commitment to ensure the local aviation infrastructure would be prepared to meet any additional demand the event's host meetings may bring into Sarawak. Whilst we endeavour to lure the international tourists and more airlines into the heartland of Sarawak, Malaysia Airports will ensure that Kuching International Airport is always ready in terms of capacity and capabilities to cater to the passengers and airlines requirements," he said.

"We will ensure that it meets if not exceed, the global airport operations standard to facilitate the demand and growth of passengers passing through this important international gateway. To demonstrate our firm commitment to continuous operational service excellence, the airport will undergo a terminal improvement project not too far from now to provide a heightened travelling experience for users of this airport," he added.

Look below to see some photographs from the Routes Asia Networking Evening...

Routes Asia Networking Evening

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About The Author... Richard Maslen, Editor, Routesonline

Richard leads the Routesonline community delivering content every day and the weekly The HUB e-newsletter. With over 16 years in the industry working for a number of aviation publications he brings the team a wealth of experience and insight. Questions? Leave a comment below or send him a tweet!

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Investvine » Sarawak: Push for common visa with Brunei, Indonesia

Posted: 10 Mar 2014 10:55 PM PDT

Posted by Arno Maierbrugger on March 11, 2014

sarawak-boat-ride Malaysia's largest state of Sarawak is pushing to reach an agreement on a single visa between Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei to ease travel for tourists in the region, the Borneo Post reported.

Sarawak's Tourism Minister Datuk Amar Abang Johari Tun Openg said he had discussed the matter with his counterpart from Brunei, and and there shall be a follow-up discussion on a framework.

"Officially, we are discussing with Brunei. We have asked Malaysia's Tourism and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz to discuss with his counterpart from Indonesia.

"Meaning that if the visitors have visa issued by any of the countries, they are able to travel in these three countries – Brunei, Indonesia and Malaysia," he told a press conference after attending a dinner with the business community in the state and airline operators from China and Hong Kong on March 9.

Abang Johari said within the context of BIMP-Eaga and Malindo, the state government will hold talks with Kalimantan provincial governments once the Indonesian government had given the green light to the framework.

"For immigration purpose, we can initiate it and then work together with the tourism ministry and home ministry on that and perhaps the Foreign Affairs Ministry. There is actually a framework now to work together."

He noted that so far in the ASEAN region, only Thailand and Cambodia had reached an agreement for a single visa to visit the two countries.

In a related development, Abang Johari spoke of a new trend in the tourism sector towards adventure and nature, rather than the beach.

"Last time it was the sun and beach but now tourists want something challenging and adventurous. Somebody commented to me why don't we have flying fox to be done here in Kuching and I said wait until we got all the facilities."

Based on the feedback he got from a tourism industry player from Hong Kong, he said many young people there prefer to go for adventures.

"For them, there is a catchment of 100 million people along the Pearl River. These are some of the young people who want to experience adventure and we can try to formulate a certain package in order to cater for these people, including for the expatriates working in Hong Kong."

Abang Johari said he would visit Hong Kong and China at the end of April to aggressively promote Sarawak to the two states, adding that he believed that the state could reach out to the market there with the support of stakeholders in the two areas.

"I must admit, our promotion effort previously was not that great. We were a little lacking in terms of promotion. This time around, we have to be aggressive."

In terms of the shopping patterns among Sarawakians, Abang Johari said he noticed nowadays that many of them liked to visit Hong Kong to spend their weekends and go to Guangzhou for shopping.

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Govt brainstorms to help 213 budget hotels - The Borneo Post Online

Posted: 19 Feb 2014 11:28 AM PST

by Peter Boon, reporters@theborneopost.com. Posted on February 20, 2014, Thursday

SIBU: A total of 213 budget hotels in Sarawak are operating without a licence, prompting a three-day workshop being held here to find ways to expedite the issuance of licence.

Principal assistant secretary to the Ministry of Local Government and Community Development, Shariman Faizul Abdullah, said several heads of government agencies had been putting their heads together since Tuesday to come up with procedures to simplify the issuance process.

Representatives from Ministry of Local Government and Community Development, Ministry of Resource Planning and Environment, Ministry of Tourism, Fire and Rescue Department, State Planning Authority (SPA), Land and Survey Department and local councils are participating in the workshop which ends today.

"We are trying to get the 213 operators to have their licence. Most of them do not bother to apply for the licence as they do not fulfill SPA's requirement.

"Here, we try to find ways to enable the operators to obtain licence by conforming to the minimal SPA requirement. We also need to look at the requirement of the Fire and Rescue Dept and the local councils.

"Once we have come up with the necessary requirement, we will inform these operators through local councils so that they can apply for the licence.

"However, what have been proposed or contributions made in this workshop are not final. We need to submit the proposal to the state government for approval," Shariman said at the workshop yesterday, adding that the proposal would not involve new applicants.

State director of Fire and Rescue Dept Nor Hisham Mohammad who was among those attending the workshop talked on occupational permit and approval.

Sarawak Central Region Hotel Association chairman Johnny Wong Sie Lee was also present.

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