The hosting of the World Tourism Day (WTD) 2023 Sarawak in Miri has served as a two-pronged plan to drive growth in local tourism and to promote sustainable tourism, said Datuk Sebastian Ting.

The deputy minister of Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Arts believed that the globally-recognised event would make Sarawak be known to the wider audience.

“The foreign tourists, in their choice of travel destinations, will include Sarawak as one of the places to visit,” said Ting when officiating the WTD 2023 at a leading hotel here yesterday.

“This is the third year we have hosted WTD that is celebrated globally on Sept 27, and this has helped put Sarawak and Miri on the world travel destinations map,” he said of the event being recognised by the United Nation’s World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO).

The UNWTO is a specialized agency of the United Nations which promotes responsible, sustainable and universally accessible tourism.

With its theme ‘Tourism and Green Investments’, Ting said that this is in line with the Post Covid-19 Development Strategy (PCDS) 2030, laid out by Premier Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg, and which promotes economic growth, inclusive development and environmental sustainability.

“We are also concerned on the challenges and climate change. Thus, green investments are definitely the way forward to develop tourism in a responsible, sustainable manner,” he added.

The World Tourism Day (WTD) 2023 Sarawak is hosted by Curtin University Malaysia and supported by the Ministry of Tourism, Creative and Performing Arts (MTCP) Sarawak.

The two-day event happening on Sept 23 and 24 brings tourism stakeholders including government bodies, practitioners, academics, associations and communities on dialogue sessions on tourism and green investments, workshops and panel discussions.

Forum participants will also be brought on field trips to various interesting places in Miri.

Present at the event were MTCP’s permanent secretary Datu Sherrina Hussaini; Curtin University Malaysia Pro-vice chancellor and president Simon Leunig; vice chancellor of University of Technology Sarawak Prof Datuk Dr Khairuddin Abd Hamid.

Also in attendance were MTCP’s (Sarawak office) director Debbie Jenggut Nyelang; Sarawak Research Society and director of Centre for Responsible Borneo (Reborn) chairman Dr Hiram Ting; and Curtin University Malaysia’s Director of the Regenerative Living Lab for Sustainable Tourism, Professor Dr Andreas Zins.

Source:
courtesy of THE BORNEO POST

by CINDY LAI

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