Category: Updates

Two sets of stamps sporting Sarawak themed imagery will be launched on March 15, one of which is the limited edition ‘Visit Sarawak Campaign’ commemorative stamp set with unique imagery designed by the Tourism Board.

Only 400 copies of the commemorative stamps will be available to the public and can be found at the Sarawak Booth number 5058 – 5063 & 5068 – 5073 (Hall 5) at MATTA Fair in PWTC, from March 15 to 17.

The commemorative stamps are accompanied by a special folder featuring some iconic images of Sarawak, with detailed descriptions of the attractions that can be found in Sarawak.

The Board encourages stamp collectors and enthusiasts to come to the booth, where they will receive a stamp set with the purchase a Sarawak package above RM250, or stand a chance to win that stamp set by participating in an Instagram competition at the Sarawak Booth.

Among activities at the booth are a Photo Booth Instagram Contest, puzzle games and Rubik’s cube game.

Aside from games, the Sarawak booth at MATTA will also feature a virtual reality display, musical performances by local Sarawakian band Meruked, food sampling and tuak tasting, as well as ‘Show & Tell’, featuring sago worms, local fruit and pepper plants.

16 Sarawak partners will be attending the Fair, namely Amogha Tours & Travel, Borneo Happy Farm, Borneo Highlands Hornbill Golf & Jungle Club Berhad, Brighton Travel & Tour, CPH Travel Agencies, Great Leap Tours, Greatown Travel Sdn. Bhd., Hotel Grand Continental Kuching, Inter-Continental Travel Centre, Kuching Holidays & Car Rental, Mega Hotel, Miri, Sunshine Joytour Borneo, Tanahmas Hotel Sibu, Tourism & Hospitality Group, SEDC Sarawak, Tropical Adventure Tours & Travel, and Tune Hotel Waterfront Kuching.

There are great deals on offer at the Sarawak booth, with packages as low as RM230 and great discounts up to 30%, offering tour options throughout Sarawak.

The Rainforest World Music Festival’s (RWMF) promotional video has won the Golden City Gate 2019 five-star Award at the ITB Berlin 2019, a leading international annual tourism trade event.

The video entitled “Awakening of the Rainforest” produced by a local production house, Asa Esa won the International Tourism Film and Multimedia category for event category.

The making of the two-minute promotional video was inspired by Mother Nature’s bountiful gift.

Held for the 19^th time the award’s jury session was held on February 12, 2019 with more than 100 entries from 21 countries received for the competition.

“We will be celebrating the festival’s 22^nd edition in 2019 and we hope that the award will be an inspiration for us to move on to make the festival bigger and better this year” CEO of Sarawak Tourism Board, Sharzede Datu Haji Salleh Askor said during the award ceremony.

On hand to receive the award from the President of Golden City Gate, Wolfgang Jo Huschert was the Minister for Tourism, Arts, Culture, Youth and Sports, Datuk Haji Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah at a ceremony held at the Malaysian Pavilion at the Messe Berlin here yesterday.

The Sarawak Tourism Board will be participating in two events in Jiangsu Province in the month of March.

From March 8 to 10, the board will attend the B2B and B2C events at the Suzhou International Travel Fair 2019 (SITF2019), held at the Suzhou International Expo Center.

SITF2019 theme this year is “Quality Culture Travel, Multi Experience”, well in line with the Visit Sarawak Campaign attraction themes of Culture, Adventure, Nature, Food and Festivals, as well as the campaign’s focus on experiential tourism.

Shortly after SITF2019, the Board will be attending the Malaysia Tourism Promotion B2B Seminar in Nanjing on March 12.

20 to 25 Malaysia sellers will be participating I this seminar and B2B table talk sessions, promoting their products to the local agents from Nanjing and Jiangsu Province, as well as the Wuxi, Changzhou, Nantong and Xuzhou regions.

As of March 1, the national no-smoking policy in eateries throughout Sarawak will take effect.

For the first six months of implementation, the punishments will be ‘educational’, with officers issuing warning letters to those who smoke in non-smoking areas.

The Indie Video Competition with the theme “Sarawak: More to Discover”, announced their winners recently with Nazmi Nasse Ruddin taking home the grand prize of RM10,000.

First and second runners-up were Chong Ee Vei and Jeremy Emang Jecky, winning RM5,000 and RM3,000, respectively.

Consolation prize winners were Mohammed Alfiani Zizam Adeng and his team, Mohamad Faizuan Mat and his team, and Chai Teck Hua with a prize of RM500 each.

The competition was organised by Sarawak Tourism Federation (STF) in collaboration with Sarawak Tourism Board (STB), and winning entries will be used in digital promotion of Sarawak as a tourism destination.

Sarawak Tourism Board and their travel trade partners will be participating in ITB Berlin from March 6 to 10 at the Messe Berlin.

The Sarawak delegation includes Borneo Adventure Tours & Travel, One Wayang Tour Sdn. Bhd., Ranee Boutique Suites and the Marian Boutique Lodging House.

This year, the Sarawak Booth will be located at the Tourism Malaysia Pavilion, number 26, in front of the Hall 25/26 entrance.

Minister of Tourism, Arts, Culture, Youth and Sport YB Datuk Haji Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah will also be attending ITB Berlin to launch the “Sarawak: More to Discover – Sibu and Central Region”, introducing central Sarawak as a tour destination in Europe.

Malaysia is an Official Partner Country with ITB Berlin 2019.

The Sarawak Tourism Board wrapped up at the Flight Centre Travel Expo, where they attended the expo in Sydney and Melbourne on February 2-3 and 9-10.

The Board was able to promote Sarawak directly to the Australian consumers, who were eager to hear more about the responsible tourism and experiential tourism attractions within Sarawak.

The expo was a success in raising awareness on the authenticity and vastness of Sarawak’s attractions, particularly in Culture, Adventure, Nature, Food and Festivals as well.

Sarawak Tourism Board went for a week-long tourism promotion mission to Finland attending the MATKA Travel Fair in Helsinki and also conducted destination briefing and partners’ engagement session in Amsterdam with local Sarawak partners.

 Sarawak Tourism Board (STB) is set to ramp its tourism promotion in the Netherlands with at least three Dutch operators who have expressed their interests in joint marketing collaboration.

 The Product Managers from Fox Verre Reizen and Sawadee Reizen expressed their interests to do a familiarization trip to Sarawak in order for them to have a first-hand experience of the destination whereas the Product Manager of Pangea Travel had, indicated his intention to include the Central Region as a new product in their promotional catalogue.

 Meanwhile in Helsinki, the STB delegation were guests at the office of the Malaysian Embassy, meeting with the First Secretary, Norhalilah Abdul Jalil.

Sarawak Tourism Board (STB) celebrates this Chinese New Year by promoting Sarawak’s iconic animal, the Bornean Bearded Pig.

Around 24% of Sarawak’s population are of Chinese descent, making the lunar New Year a big celebration throughout the state every year.

The use of the ang pau is a tradition celebrated by Chinese communities throughout Sarawak and the world, where the elders give red packets to children on the Lunar New Year for good fortune. In more modern renditions of the red packet, the animal of the Chinese zodiac for that year is often featured on the front.

As the Visit Sarawak Campaign continues, STB used this opportunity to celebrate the local cultural tradition of celebrating the lunar New Year by printing red packets for their partners in tourism, as well as promoting Sarawak’s distinct nature, this year being the Bornean Bearded Pig.

Bako National Park’s Bornean Bearded Pig is one of the most popular animals in the park, second only to the proboscis monkey, it became the perfect option for the “red packet”.

For more information, you can read the press release here…

 

Video production in Sarawak is not a new thing, as the Sarawak Tourism Board (STB) has steadily assisted 20 to 25 productions per year for the past few years.

While STB doesn’t have the authority to ‘green light’ a production or issue permits, they are present to assist and guide production houses through the application processes to the Chief Minister’s Office and Sarawak Immigration Office, as well as to offer a letter of support to help in the application.

Filming permit applications hinge on two criteria; that the production is beneficial to Sarawak’s tourism industry and that applications and documents are submitted two months in advance, in accordance with the Chief Minister’s Office and Sarawak Immigration Office’s standard operating procedures.

In 2018, STB assisted production houses such as the Pekin Express by Eccholine International Line Production from Belgium and “Islands-Earth’s Paradise Isles” by BBC Natural History Unit from UK.

Over the years, STB had a hand in assisting productions such as the Asia’s Next Top Model (Season 2 Episode 9), an episode of River Monsters, Surviving Borneo with Henry Golding, Anthony Bourdain’s – Parts Unknown, to name a few.