Sarawak to go big on eco-tourism

KUCHING: Sarawak government aims to further enhance its eco-tourism, making it an industry bigger than the timber business.

Chief Minister Tan Sri Adenan Satem said serious initiatives must be taken to preserve the flora and fauna for the future generations and tourism sector. "I believed Sarawak has a lot of potential forest which have not been discovered or fully-studied. "Hence, I have changed the policy and open up all our forest and national parks for all visitors, including the international experts to do their researches and studies," he said.

Speaking at the 6th Sarawak Hornbill Tourism Awards for 2013/1014 here last night, he said, Conviction Cave, a newly-discovered cave last month in Mulu National Park, likely to be untouched for more than six million years had shown that Sarawak has so much more to offer.

"This make me believed that there are more caves in the region and has the potential becoming the world's biggest cave complex. "Therefore, I welcome anyone who is interested to develop our forest together," he said. Apart from that, he said, accessibility and infrastructures must be enhanced to ensure the tourists are able to move around in the state. 

"We must also ensure they are able to move around conveniently. However, this wouldn't be a big problem as the Pan- Borneo Highway is in progress. "Our tourism industry can be uplifted in another level while economy to be expanded once the highway is completed," he said.
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