Incentive travel agents, meeting planners and corporate buyers from 14 countries visited Kuchingfrom 23 rd to 26 th May to experience a selected range of new incentive and meeting products being developed by the local tourism industry in Sarawak in conjunction with Sarawak Convention Bureau. The buyers were from Scandinavia and other parts of Europe, Japan, China and Australia. All of them had selected Sarawak as their preferred post tour option when they attended ‘Global Meet’, a two-day industry trade show hosted by Tourism Malaysia at Langkawi. A tight programme was drawn up for their stay and their first day itinerary included a round of golf at the Borneo Highlands, kayaking, a visit to the Semenggoh Orang Utan Sanctuary for a close encounter with man’s closest relative in the animal world and a jungle theme poolside party a the Kuching Hilton in the evening. On the second day, the visitors were shown the site of the new Sarawak Convention and Exhibition Centre at the Kuching Isthmus and were taken to the limestone caves of Bau, a former gold mining town, 48 km from Kuching.
The finale of their stay was a sampan ride across the Sarawak River to Kampung Boyan, a Malay village in Kuching, where they were given an experience of the Malay culture in an evening of traditional music and dance and were served local delicacies at the homes of the villagers. Industry sponsors for the event were Tourism Malaysia, Hilton Kuching, Cat City Holidays, Kuching Kayak, Borneo Highlands, Borneo Adventures, J’s Creative Services, White House Catering, Sarawak Forestry Corporation and My Baruk Village. Sarawak Convention Bureau CEO, Ms Jill Henry thanked the sponsors for this trip saying, “We are grateful for the fantastic support we have received from our local industry partners in putting this programme together. It has enabled us to develop and showcase new ideas and products from Sarawak to the sophisticated international market.” She hoped the experience of the both the organizers and visitors and their feedback would be useful input in incorporating new packages for visiting delegates in future.
