| Tourism target possible Govt official says increased foreign media coverage road, MasWings can keep tourist arrivals on track  | | ADVENTUROUS: (From left) Stefania Donati, Akit, Elisa Grazzini, Chiara Babilani, Silvia Spalvieri, Elena Papuzzo, Donnaventura executive producer Maurizio Rossi, Benedetta Delogu and Mitsubishi Motors Malaysia chief executive officer Fumihiko Minami pose during the welcoming ceremony. | KUCHING: Sarawak is still on track to achieve this year’s target of 3.2 million tourist arrivals following positive developments in the latter half of the year. Increased coverage from international media and the launching of MasWings next month are expected to bring in more tourists, Urban Development and Tourism Ministry permanent secretary, Akit Sebli, said yesterday. “The festive season (Hari Raya, Deepavali and Christmas) and the improved air connectivity provided by MasWings would see more tourists coming in. We should be able to reach our target,” he told reporters here yesterday. Earlier, Akit representing Urban Development and Tourism Minister Dato Sri Wong Soon Koh officiated at a welcoming ceremony for the cast and crew of Italian TV show ‘Donnaventura’. On tourist arrivals, he said most of them were from Asean countries such as Singapore, Brunei and Indonesia. Significant increase had also been recorded in the number of arrivals from Hong Kong, Taiwan and China while the State also continued to attract travellers from United Kingdom and other European counties, he said. “Our counterparts at the federal level have played a big part, especially in promoting our tourist attractions and events to the international audience,” he said, citing the Rainforest World Music Festival and this month’s Sarawak Regatta as best examples where there were tremendous international media coverage. As for MasWings, he was fully confident that the newly formed subsidiary of Malaysia Airlines would boost the State’s tourism industry that had been affected by poor air connectivity. “Because our products are mostly eco-related, good air links are needed especially connecting to the other parts of Sarawak apart from the major towns,” he said. MasWings, a fully owned subsidiary of Malaysia Airlines, will take to the skies starting Oct 1, running the Rural Air Services (RAS) in Sarawak and providing almost 200 flights a week in Sabah and Sarawak. It will bring back a lot of the old routes and frequencies that Sarawak previously had. Taking over from FlyAsianXpress (FAX), the new company has already planned to purchase 10 bigger ATR 72 500 aircraft to replace its fleet of Fokker 50s. Chief Minister Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud is expected to launch the new company’s operations in Mulu, the State’s premier eco-tourism location. Earlier, Wong in his welcoming speech that was read by Akit, said the State government would assist the Donnaventura’s cast and crew in the filming of the programme. “The beautiful scenery of Sarawak and the warmth of its people will be shown to the people in Italy, and this is a good way to promote our State,” he said. Donnaventura, Italian for ‘Adventurous Ladies’, is a highly-rated Italian travel reality TV show with a cast of six young and adventurous Italian ladies selected from over 40,000 applicants. The show features the life of these six Donnaventura as they embark on a 100-day journey across foreign lands vying to be travel journalists. Supported by the Ministry of Tourism Malaysia, the Donnaventura have successfully covered more than 12,000 kilometres since they began their journey in four Mitsubishi Triton sponsored by Mitsubishi Motors Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur last July. They would travel across eight countries in South East Asia - Malaysia, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar, Brunei and Singapore. Now in Sarawak, their journey would begin here as they head to Sabah before returning to their final destination in Kuala Lumpur next month. Published by:
The Borneo Post
20th September 2007 | 
