Category: Updates From The Industry

Sarawak is definitely a place like no other. With ancient histories passed down from generations, crafting the people’s daily life, Sarawak is a destination home to where traditional heritage and culture still lives until today.

Ever wonder why some local tribes have tattoos around their bodies? One might say it is for decoration purposes, but it’s actually more than meets the eye.



The tattoos tell the stories of the bearer’s life. They can represent knowledge and their life achievements. Tattoos are not just for men as the Iban women have tattoos around their bodies as well.

The tattoo artist uses two sticks, one with a needle attached at the end and the other, a plain piece of stick to tap the one with the needle attached at the end, repeatedly diving the needle into the skin.

Hence, Sarawak Tourism Board will present you another side of Sarawak’s unique culture and heritage, not known to many but is enough to entice tattoo lovers out there.

To know more, check out our Facebook Page, Sarawak Travel, Malaysia Borneo or watch the full video on our Youtube Channel, and stay tune for new episodes bi-weekly.

The Rainforest World Music Festival (RWMF) road show’s final location will be at Plaza Merdeka in Kuching, on July 6 to 8.

It took off at the Curve in Damansara, Kuala Lumpur from June 22 to 24, before proceeding to Suria Sabah Mall in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah   on June 29 to July 1.

The Roadshow features live performances from the festival’s band At Adau as well as an Augmented Reality mobile phone games where participants had the chance to win free tickets to the Festival and festival’s merchandise and souvenirs.

The Sarawak Tourism Board supported a  five member New Zealand tour and travel agent familiarisation trip from 9 to 13 June.

The familiarization trip featured several hotel inspections and product tours of places of interest such as Semenggoh Wildlife Centre and Bako National Park.

The Sarawak Aquatic Centre in Petra Jaya has been renamed Pandelela Rinong Aquatic Centre and was officiated by Sarawak Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg on May 8.

The Aquatic Centre served as the location for the Malaysia Games (SUKMA) in 2016 and was renamed in honour of the Malaysian diver Pandelela, a Sarawakian, who won silver and bronze medals in the 2016 and 2012 Olympics.

In early December last year, the Sarawak’s Minister of Tourism, Arts, Culture, Youth and Sports, Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah led a delegation from the State and Malaysia Paralympic Council (MPC) to Mexico to observe the staging of the World Para Swimming Championship 2017 in preparation.

The State of Sarawak won the bid to host the World Para Swimming Championship 2019 in the year 2016, and will be hosting the event in this Aquatic Centre next year.

Last year, the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture was merged with the Ministry of Youth and Sports under the Datuk Karim, leading to new approaches towards sports tourism, including increasing international sports events held in Sarawak attracting spectators and athletes.

 

The Borneo Jazz Festival kicked off its final week countdown with the “Roadshow to Borneo Jazz” at the No Black Tie in Kuala Lumpur on April 30^th.

Coinciding with International Jazz Day, the Roadshow to Borneo Jazz featured a string of Jazz players that are set to perform in the festival in Miri, namely the Michael Veerapen Quartet andDasha Logan, NewSound, and this year’s finale artist, Nadir.

The Borneo Jazz Festival, celebrating its 13^thedition will be held for three days from May 11 at the Coco Cabana at Marina Bay in Miri.

This year’s Borneo Jazz brings together renowned artistes from Poland, Italy, Switzerland, Belgium and Japan, with acclaimed Asian performers Gaoyang Li, Jeremy Monteiro, Michael Veerapen and Datuk Zainal Abidin as well as workshops, jam sessions, panel discussions and more!

Single-day presale tickets are being sold at RM124.00, RM154.00 and RM84 for day one, two and three respectively, while students and senior citizen tickets are priced at RM64.00, RM84.00 and RM54.00 for the same.

Two-day passes for the May 11 and 12 are being sold for RM254.00 on presale and RM124 for students and seniors. Three-day passes are sold at RM334.00 on presale and RM164.00 for students and seniors.

Tickets can be purchased at https://jazzborneo.com/programme/tickets-info/

The Festival is organised by No Black Tie Presents and is wholly owned by the Sarawak Tourism Board.

The first Bario Trail Run will take place on September 15 and is open for registration on May 15.

Registration costs RM135.00 before 15 June and RM160.00 till it closes.

The Bario Trail Run is 21km in length through the wild Bario jungle and is a sports tourism event that hopes to encourage appreciation for Bario’s rich nature, to maintain the running trails and groom the local people to organize international events in Bario. 

With limited inbound and outbound flights, those who register for the Trail Run need to stay in Bario for a few days, so accommodation deals are being prepared for runners.

Bario Homestay provides four day three night accommodation with hotel transfer and meals for RM350.00. One of the Borneo Trail Run packages provides four day three nights, with full room and board, meals, registration fees and MASwings return tickets for RM650.00, with terms and conditions. 

For registration, contact Julien Rang at 01125081114/0198888732 or email to [email protected]

For more information and updates, visit http://www.facebook.com/bariorealitytourism

The Sarawak Tourism Roadshow B2B (Business to Business) in Australia is set to take place on May 22 to 29 in three cities, namely Sydney on the 22^nd, Melbourne on the 24^th and Perth on the 29^th. 

The programme will consist of a Buyers Meet Sellers Breakfast Session in the morning, to focus on the Product andSales Managers.

An evening Networking Session will place after working hours and will be open to all.

To further strengthen our presence in Australia, a Sarawak Product Update Seminar will be held followed by a B2B session for Sarawak industry partners to meet the Australian agents in all three cities.

Approximately 80 to 100 Australian agents will be invited to the B2B session at each venue with five local Sarawak agents participating in this roadshow.

This roadshow is a joint collaboration with Sabah Tourism with the support of MAS Sydney and RBA Melbourne.    

A community programme themed “Solidarity as a catalyst for Community Welfare in Tourism” will be held in Lawas on April 27-29.

Lawas spans less than 4,000km²  , is 1,200 km from Kuching and roughly 200km from Kota Kinabalu, with buses from Sabah and Brunei.

The Tourism Programme features an expo on local products, workshops on cultural heritage and arts and other running events.

“The objective of the programme is to nurture unity, solidarity and integration among the local community while at the same time creating a platform for the people to promote their products and crafts,” according to Assistant Minister of Community Wellbeing Datuk Francis Harden Hollis.

 

Sarawak Tourism Board will highlight its first Tourism Virtual Reality (VR) experience this weekend at the MATTA Fair to be held at the Putra World Trade Center in Kuala Lumpur.

This is part of its new marketing initiative to embrace digital technology in the promotion of tourism in the State. 

Interactively, the VR technology to be shared with MATTA visitors will feature a new dimension in the travel experience between the consumers and the destination.

Ashweein Narayanan, the Executive Director of Kuching based Amogha Tours and Travel (in collaboration with Trifold Enterprise), will provide a technical  demonstration to try out the new Sarawak virtual experience using Samsung Gear VR experience available at Sarawak Tourism booth during MATTA Fair period.

Ashweein has  expressed his wish bring the State’s  tourism industry  to a whole new level in line with the Sarawak Chief Minister’s vision to ‘digitize’ all industries, saying that conventional methods of sales and marketing may no longer be so viable and innovative methods were needed to garner the attention of the public.

For more information on Sarawak at MATTA Fair 2018, visit http://bit.ly/matta2018