KUCHING: Visitor arrivals to Sarawak for the period of January to March remained positive despite facing travel cost pressures following the conflict in the Middle East and rising oil prices.

Minister for Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Arts Dato Sri Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah said statistics for the first three months of this year showed that the momentum of visitor arrivals was still positive.

“We will continue to monitor, but hope that despite the war and the increase in oil prices, visitor arrivals to Sarawak can still be maintained.

“Most of our visitors come from neighbouring countries such as Brunei, Indonesia and Singapore, so we don’t need to worry too much if this trend continues,” he said.

He said this when met by reporters during the Sarawak Serumpun event at the Sarawak Cultural Village, here, on Wednesday.

He added that the Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture Dato Sri Tiong King Sing also noted that visitor arrivals to Malaysia in March remained stable and were not significantly affected.

Commenting on the possibility of assistance to tourism industry players, Dato Sri Abdul Karim said any action taken would be considered based on the actual level of impact on the sector.

According to him, the government needs to assess the overall impact including on the hospitality, transportation and food supply chains.

“We will monitor the situation, and the Federal Government is also looking into this matter because it is putting pressure on all parties.

“We hope this situation will not last long and will subside in the next few months,” he said.

Meanwhile, he also commented on the temporary suspension of Batik Air flights to Bintulu and Sibu which was influenced by global factors including rising fuel prices.

He explained that airline operations depend on commercial factors, particularly when certain routes record low load factors following the increase in ticket prices.

He said that the situation could cause people to postpone their travels, thus prompting airlines to re-evaluate their routes and frequency of operations.

The Minister for Tourism, Creative Industry dan Performing Arts (MTCP) expressed optimism that the situation would not last long and was expected to return to stability after geopolitical pressures subsided.

Also present were MTCP Deputy Ministers Datuk Snowdan Lawan and Datuk Sebastian Ting Chiew Yew, Sarawak Tourism Board (STB) Chairman Dato Dennis Ngau, Sarawak Economic Development Corporation (SEDC) Chairman Tan Sri Datuk Amar Abdul Aziz Husain, MTCP Permanent Secretary Morshidi Frederick and other dignitaries. -UKASnews

Prepared By: Ahmad Daniel Faiz
Translator: Nerissa Sia