Best of Sabah rural tourism to be held in KK from Nov 27-29

Bangkuai (middle) promoting the Community-Based Tourism Roadshow with state tourism officials and players on Wednesday (Nov 23).

KOTA KINABALU: Rural tourism operators from 19 districts will be participating in the Community-Based Tourism Roadshow (CBTR) at the Sabah International Convention Centre here from Nov 27 to 29.

This is the fourth installation of the CBTR which was first introduced in 2017, aimed at showcasing the variety of tourism products available in the respective districts.

Sabah Tourism Board chairman Datuk Joniston Bangkuai said the event will serve an opportune platform for rural tourism operators to show what they have to both the public at large and tourism industry players.

“Not only that, they will also get to leverage the expertise and know-how of industry players to promote and package those rural tourism products to both domestic and international markets,” he said during a press conference at the STB office, the main organiser of the event.

“Apart from that, this could be a meeting opportunity between tourism operators and rural tourism product operators promoting rural tourism destinations domestically and internationally.

“The trend for community-based tourism is soaring; in 2018, total receipts for homestays alone reached RM6.23mil,” added Bangkuai, who is also the Sabah Tourism, Culture and Environment Assistant Minister.

During the three-day roadshow, there will be a total of 56 booths, with 50 booths selling local handicrafts and local cuisines.

Among the participants for the roadshow are Designated Areas for Sustainable Tourism (Dasta) Thailand, the Sabah Rural Development Ministry,Sabah Industrial Development Ministry, Sabah Agriculture and Fisheries Ministry, Federation of Rural Tourism Association Sabah (Fertas), Sabah Homestay Association, Kraftangan Malaysia, Local Malaysia Participation from Tourism Johor as well as Sarawak and Sabah Parks.

The highlight for the three-day event, which is open to the public to attend, will be the panel sessions with a combination of panelists representing academics, policy makers and practitioners.

One of the sessions will involve an invited panelist from Thailand (Dasta) who will be sharing about sustainable tourism administration in Thailand.

There will also be cultural performances from various districts in Sabah, traditional games and colouring competitions for children.

“Besides the exhibition, I hope that all districts participating can fully benefit from the forum and they should review significant challenges and also share success stories,” Bangkuai said.

“We need to work together to achieve our target, which is to place Sabah as an exemplary rural tourism destination and adhere to Asean Tourism Standards by 2030.

“The synergy between public, private and local communities would enhance rural tourism initiatives,” he added.