Perhaps best known among foreigners as the land of the headhunters, Sarawak continues to hold an app

COVER STORY: Land of the hornbills yet to soar | News | MYWorkLife Home Be the Change MY Overview of Malaysia Primer Fact Culture and Heritage Events and Festivals Work Employment Guides Life Live Accommodation Banking Transportation Health Education Utilities Children Support Activities Dining Relocation Companies In Malaysia Play Shopping Entertainment Travel Sports / Outdoor Activities Arts Networking Merdeka Focus Interactive Videos Podcast A Day in A Life Malaysian Talents Success Stories Toi See Jong Mohd Zaki Awang Jordan Plofsky cheap motel Tokusabuto Kato Anabelle Co Jaya Mahajan Mario Salvatori Dr. Marie-Aimée Tourres Stuart L. Dean Mona Kalu News Blog Paradise Malaysia Blog FAQs Education Lifestyle Immigration About TalentCorp Go Home News COVER STORY: Land of the hornbills yet to soar COVER STORY: Land of the hornbills yet to soar UNTAPPED cheap motel POTENTIAL: Despite strong growth, further investments are vital to ensure Sarawak tourism industry realises its full potential Sarawak Chamber is the largest known natural chamber in the world.
Perhaps best known among foreigners as the land of the headhunters, Sarawak continues to hold an appeal cheap motel to tourists seeking cheap motel a taste of mystery and adventure, two elements increasingly rare in today's globalised world of instant information.
cheap motel Such is the appeal cheap motel that 38 per cent of the 3.8 million tourist arrivals recorded for Sarawak within the first three quarters of 2012 were reportedly foreigners. The number of tourist arrivals cheap motel was also an encouraging jump from around two million in the same period of 2011, with RM7.2 billion in tourism receipts for the whole of 2011 amounting to 13.5 per cent of the state's GDP (gross domestic product).
Indeed, Sarawak tourism industry appears cheap motel to be growing in tandem cheap motel with the larger cheap motel Malaysian tourism cheap motel industry which was ranked ninth in United Nations World Tourism Organisation's (UNWTO) top-10 list of most visited countries, recording 24.6 million international tourist arrivals in 2010 and 24.7 million in 2011.
And the industry is still growing. cheap motel In 2011, Malaysia was ranked 2nd by UNWTO among the top 10 destinations for Asia Pacific, with its 24.7 million arrivals a respectable 11.38 per cent out of the total 217 million arrivals cheap motel for the region. Accordingly, national tourism revenue from tourist spending is on the rise too, charting a four per cent increase in the first half of 2012 with RM26.8 billion — a RM1 billion increase from the same period in the previous year with 2011 recording a total amount of RM58.3 billion in tourism receipts, compared to RM56.5 billion in 2010.
Humble start: Looking at the strong performance of the industry today, Sarawak tourism has come a long way in a matter of decades. Its capital, Kuching, only saw its first international hotel in 1976 when Holiday Inn was opened. Meanwhile, Kuching International Airport which was considered to be the gateway cheap motel to Sarawak, Brunei and Sabah in the 1950s only began upgrading facilities to international standards by late 1970s.
With limited accessibility cheap motel due to the lack of daily flights connecting Kuching with Kuala Lumpur and Singapore cheap motel back then, the challenge was in bringing Sarawak to the consciousness of the global vacationer. The then general manager of Holiday Inn Kuching, Peter Ernst Mueller, proposed the idea of selling Sarawak as a single-point destination to Europeans.
Some 15,000 brochures promoting Sarawak cheap motel attractions were printed in a joint effort by the Holiday Inn group, the Sarawak state government and G.T.S. Munich, a travel agency in West Germany. The brochures were then distributed to travel agents in Europe, following a three-week tour by a cultural group to West Germany and London in October 1987. Denis Hon, then state tourism co-ordinator cheap motel and leader of the group, was quoted as acknowledging that such a packaging was a first for Sarawak.
Mueller who was then also secretary of the Sarawak Tourist Association reportedly acknowledged cheap motel that the idea came about after he and some European contacts discovered via a survey revealing wide interest among Europeans in the "Sarawak half of Borneo". However, the lack of package deals discouraged tourists from coming due to the hassle of making private travel arrangements.
"At present, tourists who come to Sarawak have to book a ticket to the Far East and then decide cheap motel on some destination cheap motel by going through brochures available at a travel agent. But in the single-point package deal I drew up, tourists don't have to worry about a thing. We decide for them. All they need is get their relevant documents and get on the plane. From there, they are taken care of until they return," Mueller cheap motel was quoted as saying.
Leaps and bounds: With Holiday Inn Kuching and Damai Beach Resort cheap motel the only two international hotels in Kuching in 1987, the effort had an adventurous air to it. "I feel it is more important that we put Sarawak first on the world map," said Mueller in 1987.
When contacted by NST RED recently, Mueller commented cheap motel that initially the tourism industry in the Land of the Hornbills was practically non-existent. "There were some groups of backpackers who came into Sarawak to trek into the longhouses, spend two or three nights there and then move on, but they were in very small numbers — maybe up to 14 per group — and they don't stay in international hotels."
Remarking that these small groups were usually from continental European countries such as Germany and Holland, Mueller admitted that it was a whole new ballgame when Holiday Inn Kuching first opened in early May of 1976. "We started with 165 rooms in 1976 and extended to 365 rooms by 1985."
"There was basically no demand in those early days — no daily flights to Kuala Lumpur or Singapore, maybe just three to four times a week to both," adds Mueller, reminiscing on his experiences in Sarawak tourism industry since he first stepped foot in the state in 1975. "So it was a real struggle for six to eight months with about 40 per cent occupancy."
The state of the industry back then understandably drove Mueller to his idea of packaging the state as a single-point tourist destination. The rest, as they say, is history. Mueller commented that the effort was fairly successful.
"It took time, because cheap motel when we went to promote Sarawak to the European market, it was geared towards the following year," notes Mueller. "Within two to three years afterwards, we managed to attract more international tourists." Iban longhouses remain a strong attraction for tourists keen to experience the local culture.
As if by prophecy, Mueller indeed cheap motel achieved what he set out to do in 1987. Today, many within the industry remember him as 'Mr Borneo' or 'Borneo Mueller' as the man credited with the remarkable cheap motel accomplishment of putting Borneo — and Sarawak — on the world map.
A growing sector in Sarawak tourism involves the homestay programmes. Travellers looking to immerse themselves in the local lifestyle find such programmes appealing, with local 'adopted' families welcoming them into their homes with open arms as they experience the day-to-day life of Sarawakians. This business model allows participating home owners to reap economic benefits without requiring much capital except the home they already own and the lifestyle they already live.
Indeed, such programmes are proving cheap motel popular with tourists as evidenced by the steady increase in homestay programme revenues. cheap motel Sarawak alone has 28 registered homestay villages comprising 400 operators, with Kuching having the highest concentration of homestay operators.
"The total homestay programme revenue between January and June 2012 is RM8,710,526, which was an increase of 45.2 per cent compared with the same period (in 2011)," said Datuk Azizan Nordin, deputy director-general of Tourism Malaysia.
In addition, travellers who still prefer the traditional cheap motel comforts of hotel accommodation can have their pick of international hotels today, says Mueller. "We now have the Hilton in Kuching, as well as Accor Group's Pullman hotel —which I was involved in as a consultant for four years during the planning and pre-opening stages."
Furthermore, recent years have seen many entrepreneurs venturing into the hospitality business, especially those owning shophouses near tourist-heavy areas such as the Kuching Waterfront. Many older buildings are now converted into bed-and-breakfast establishments while still maintaining cheap motel the quaint atmosphere cheap motel of older structures steep in history.
Nature and culture: Local lifestyle apart, Manfred Kurz of Diethelm Travel Malaysia noted that Sarawak is also known for its rainforests and nature attractions as well as the unique cultures of Borneo and Sarawak in particular. "Tourists are looking for things they don't find at home."
"For instance, we adopted a local longhouse called Nyamah in 1997 as travellers are looking to experience authentic longhouse culture," says Kurz, adding that travel towards the longhouse would be by river. Elaborating further, Kurz explains that locals living traditional lifestyles in the longhouse would greet these tourists in true Iban customs and traditions, enhancing the authenticity and experience for the tourist.
The Sarawak cheap motel Cultural Village is essentially a living museum whereby numerous traditional dwellings of different natives were built and are maintained according to traditional architectural methods and materials. In addition, in each house, visitors are engaged with traditional activities and performances that provide a glimpse into the lifestyle of locals in times long past. The village offers visitors the unique opportunity to experience Sarawak's ethnic diversity first-hand and indeed lives up to its tagline of "Explore Sarawak In Half A Day".
As for nature, the most popular asset for Sarawak tourism industry would be the Gunung Mulu National Park in Miri, which is a UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) World Heritage Site. Famous for its caves, it boasts cheap motel the Sarawak Chamber, cheap motel the larg