KOTA KINABALU, 7 July 2022 – Tourism Malaysia is in talks with the Sabah state government, Sabah Tourism Board (STB), and Sabah’s travel trade to map out the best strategies to promote Malaysia in luring back tourists from international markets.

One of the highlights is to focus on ecotourism activities, including sustainable and resilient island destinations, national parks, beaches, and cultural diversity in Sabah. Hence, Tourism Malaysia is holding a video conference today as part of its hybrid networking programme to revive tourism and reconnect Sabah’s tourism industry players with its Overseas Directors.

Dato’ Dr. Ammar Abd. Ghapar, Senior Director of Tourism Malaysia for International Promotions Division (AERO), said: “As Malaysia has reopened its international borders, the programme is also intended to give exposure to tourism operators to consider non-traditional or other potential markets to Sabah such as Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan (CIS countries), Russia and Eastern Europe.”

“We believe that such an aggressive and ongoing promotion is essential to increase Sabah’s visibility, and in tandem with our Tourism Marketing Plan 2022-2026, this collaboration can create a synergistic benefit for our tourism industry.”

Sabah recorded 371,187 tourist arrivals in 2021, including 7,286 international travellers. A rapidly growing number of tourists is expected in 2022 as the trend is on the upward spiral by the record of 319,426 arrivals from January to March this year, with 8,717 from the international markets.

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About Tourism Malaysia

Malaysia Tourism Promotion Board, also known as Tourism Malaysia, is an agency under the Ministry of Tourism, Arts & Culture Malaysia. It focuses on the specific task of promoting Malaysia as a preferred tourism destination. Since its inception, it has emerged as a major player in the international tourism scene. For more information, visit Tourism Malaysia’s social media accounts on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and TikTok.

For enquiries, please contact:

Rizal Mas
Senior Assistant Director
International Promotions Division (AERO)
rizal@tourism.gov.my
Tel: +603 8891 8373

Muadz Samat
Assistant Director
Corporate Communications Division
muadz@tourism.gov.my
Tel: +603 8891 8755