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| Abdul Karim (centre) holds a traditional Iban blowpipe and carved shield in a photocall. Also seen from third left are Musa, Lee, Sharzede, Abdul Wahab, Hii and Ammar giving the thumbs-up together with Sarawak cultural dancers. |
KUALA LUMPUR: Minister of Tourism, Arts, Culture, Youth and Sports Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah unveiled the ‘Visit Sarawak Campaign’ logo as a precursor to its official launch in December at an industry event here yesterday.
The ‘Visit Sarawak’ logo will be the anchor emblem for the ‘Visit Sarawak’ campaign.
Designed to connote fun and friendliness, the multi-coloured logo spelling out Sarawak with the tagline, ‘more to discover’, represents the aspirations of the campaign.
“The tagline, ‘More to Discover’ underscores Sarawak Tourism Board’s strategy to position Sarawak as a plethora of culture, adventure, nature, food, and festivals (CANFF) not found anywhere else in the world, and ready to be discovered,” said Abdul Karim.
“We will be looking at rolling out through the line campaigns in each of our target markets with the aim to increase visitor arrivals to Sarawak to 5.2 million by end of 2019.
“Last year, we achieved 4.86 million tourist arrivals, and we are well on our way to achieving our target of 5.25 million this year.”
He said Sarawak would target six international markets with domestic tourists at the fore.
Sarawak recorded total revenue of RM8.59 billion from tourism in 2017, which accounted for 7.9 per cent of its gross domestic product (GDP).
Domestic arrivals will be one of the key targets.
“We will target an increase of 12 per cent in arrivals from the Malaysian market. We are confident that we will be able to achieve our target as Sarawak has a lot to offer Malaysians as we have everything at a fraction of the price, just a little more than an hour away from Peninsular Malaysia.”
International arrivals to Sarawak were 2.6 million last year, and some of the key international markets for ‘Visit Sarawak’ will be UK, Germany, the Benelux countries, China, Australia, and Asean countries. Asean countries were key sources of visitors, which accounted for 48.98 per cent or 2.38 million arrivals in 2017.
Meanwhile, Abdul Karim said Sarawak Tourism Board (STB) would be the brand custodian, marketing the destination management companies, professional conference organisers, airlines, hotels and industry partners worldwide.
The campaign will open up business opportunities for those who love adventure and business adventure as Sarawak has it all, he said.
Aside from that, Sarawak will also focus on sports tourism by bringing more international tournaments and events to Sarawak.
Abd Karim will be heading to Singapore to launch the logo there on Thursday.
Earlier, newly minted STB chief executive officer Sharzede Salleh Askor said the campaign would revolve around four strategic thrusts.
“Digital will be a large part of our campaign. Besides creating content on digital platforms to reach out to our markets, we are also developing a mobile app which will anchor the discovery process for all our visitors,” she said.
Comprising seven colors in curled script, the red and yellow represent Sarawak’s flag while orange represents the strong spirit and vibrant energy of the different ethnic communities in Sarawak, which is quintessential to Sarawak’s diverse tourism proposition. Green is used to represent the verdant rainforests abundant with wildlife, and blue is used to represent the calmness of the ocean along Sarawak’s long coastline.
The uniqueness of the logo is augmented by the hornbill, which replaces the letter ‘A’ representing Sarawak’s moniker, ‘Bumi Kenyalang’, or ‘Land of the Hornbills’ that Sarawak has been known for many years, which is also an important symbol of luck to the indigenous people of Sarawak.
The ‘Visit Sarawak’ campaign is envisioned to place Sarawak on the tourism map as one of the preferred tourism destinations in Southeast Asia.
The event also saw a performance by award-winning Sarawakian songstress, Dayang Nurfaizah; and Tuku Kame, an award-winning world music band which has conducted global tours.
Assistant Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture Datuk Lee Kim Shin, Tourism Malaysia International Promotion Division (Asia/Africa) senior director Datuk Musa Yusof, Tourism Malaysia senior director (domestic and events) Dato Dr Ammar Abdul Gapar, STB chairman Datuk Abdul Wahab Aziz anddeputy chairman Hii Chang Kee were also present at the event. -TheBorneoPost
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