KUCHING: After a two-year absence due to Covid-19, the Sarawak Regatta is back this year with local and international paddlers racing over two weekends.
State Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Arts Minister Datuk Seri Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah said the event would kick off with the Sarawak International Dragon Boat Regatta on Oct 28-30, followed by the Sarawak Regatta races on Nov 4-6.
He said the dragon boat regatta would feature 1,400 paddlers from 16 countries, including Britain, Georgia, Cyprus, Italy, Iran, Bangladesh and the United Arab Emirates which were taking part for the first time.
"After two years of lockdown, everyone is waiting for events like this to happen again and the response has been very good.
"It will be good for tourism and we are making arrangements for the paddlers to visit the Borneo Cultures Museum and Semenggoh Wildlife Centre," he told a press conference here on Tuesday (Sept 13).
In line with this, Abdul Karim called on airlines not to reschedule or cancel their flights in the coming months as this could jeopardise the paddlers' participation.
"Many of them have booked their flights. If the flight is suddenly rescheduled, they may not be able to take part in the race," he said, adding that he would be monitoring the airlines closely.
On the Sarawak Regatta, Abdul Karim said entries will open on Wednesday (Sept 14) for 14 categories, including "perahu balok", "perahu bidar" and "perahu kenyalang" races.
He said a new category for "perahu tambang" would be introduced to preserve the heritage of these boats which ferry passengers across the Sarawak River.
With other events set to take place in October, Abdul Karim said visitor arrivals to Sarawak were expected to increase in the coming weeks.
He said the state had already registered 897,903 arrivals from January to August this year, including 206,328 foreign visitors.
"We expect the numbers to shoot up from October to December. October will be a busy month as we have a Spartan Trail World Championship event, the Kuching Jazz Festival, What About Kuching Festival and Kuching Marathon," he said.
