Sarawak spends 1 million to help trade

SARAWAK is pumping in RM1 million (US$319,700) to promote the state to Singapore's local and expatriate market. The budget would focus on direct promotional efforts aimed at Singapore consumers, which is a key South-east Asia market. This would include advertisement placements in the local media and local promotional brochures to supplement the efforts of outbound agents in Singapore. 

These strategies would complement the efforts of a newly formed consortium of 26 outbound travel agents in Singapore, who would work closely with seven inbound tour operators in Singapore to promote the destination through 38 packages created specially for this market. These packages range from full-day tours to Niah Cave to six-day/five-night tours to Kuching and Sibu. 

Sarawak's eight-month campaign, which ends in June 2011, is timely as it comes in the wake of improved air connectivity between Singapore and Sarawak over the last two years. Furthermore, Malaysia Airlines will launch new daily flights between Miri and Singapore on October 31. This will be the only direct connection between the two points since AirAsia suspended its services on the Miri-Singapore route on March 1. Direct air links between Miri and Singapore are vital for Sarawak's tourism as Miri is Sarawak's northern gateway.

-TTG Asia.