Tourism Malaysia and Malaysia Aviation Group have teamed up with Bank Rakyat to launch ‘Fly Borneo Specials Vol. 2 – More Adventure Awaits You!’. The campaign includes a range of attractive programmes and financial incentives for travellers, in a bid to promote interstate travel between Sabah, Sarawak and Labuan.
To celebrate the launch a dedicated B2B session was held, featuring 28 major tourism industry players from Borneo and Malaysia’s northern region. This included Sarawak Tourism Board director for domestic and Asean, Barbara Benjamin Atan; Tourism, Perbadanan Labuan Culture and Arts Department director, Mahathir Abdul Hamid; and Sabah Tourism Board marketing manager, Zarinah Amiludin.
The event was officiated by Tourism Malaysia deputy chairman Datuk Yeoh Soon Hin, who noted that Tourism Malaysia expect the Fly Borneo Specials Vol. 2 programme to provide a major boost to tourism numbers in locations nationwide from July until December this year.
“We are not only looking at the connection between Penang and Borneo, but also the northern region of Peninsula Malaysia, as well as southern Thailand. “We believe there is much potential left untapped in Borneo. After this, we will also connect the other states with Borneo,” he said.
The Sarawak Tourism Board is also aiming to promote the northern part of the state through these new packages. “We are expecting 2 million tourists in Sarawak this year and hope to bring in the numbers through the Fly Borneo Specials Vol. 2, among others,” said Barbara Benjamin Atan. According to Mahathir Abdul Hamid, Labuan also has great potential to raise arrival numbers to the region. “For this year, we are expecting to draw between 600,000 and one million tourists,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Sabah Tourism Board is planning to promote community-related tourism packages and nature treks through the new packages. “We hope that this will attract the people in the northern region of Peninsula Malaysia to visit Sabah,” said Zarinah, who also confirmed they are targeting around 1.4 million foreign tourists through the programme.
The Fly Borneo Specials Vol. 2 includes a total of 113 thematic packages, curated by a group of 61 tour operators from Sabah, Sarawak and Labuan. These packages cover a range of activities and have been designed to spark the interest of various traveller segments, from nature lovers and foodies to adventurers and anthropologists.
To further incentivise travel, all packages include both flights and tours, and are affordably priced. In addition, Bank Rakyat has set up an interest-free payment scheme for package purchases using its credit card and terminal.
