Tourism Contributes RM84.1 Billion To Malaysia Economy With 25.8 Million Tourists In 2018

PUTRAJAYA, 27 FEB 2019: Malaysia’s economy was boosted with a total of RM84.1 billion in tourist receipts from the expenditure of 25, 832,354 international tourists who visited Malaysia throughout 2018.

 
Despite the slight decline in arrivals by -0.4% compared to 2017, tourist receipts contribution increased by +2.4%. Tourism performance also saw growth in terms of per capita expenditure, rising by +2.9% to RM3,257, while the Average Length of Stay (ALOS) climbed by +0.8 points to 6.5 nights.

Year	2017	2018	Growth
Tourist arrivals	25,948,459	25, 832,354	-0.4%
Tourist receipts	RM82.2 billion	RM84.1 billion	+2.4%
Per capita expenditure	RM3,166	RM3,257	+2.9%
ALOS	5.7 nights	6.5 nights	+0.8 nights

 
Top ten international tourist arrivals for 2018 were from Singapore (10,615,986), Indonesia (3,277,689), China (2,944,133), Thailand (1,914,692), Brunei (1,382,031), South Korea (616,783), India (600,311), The Philippines (396,062), Japan (394,540) and Taiwan (383,922).
 
ASEAN arrivals continued to dominate the share of tourist arrivals to Malaysia with a 70.1% contribution. The medium-hall market and long-haul market occupied a 20.3% share and a 13.3% share respectively.
 
Tourist arrival growth was seen in Central Asia (+81.9%), Africa (+49.1%), Americas (+26.3%), West Asia (+25.3%), East Asia (+24.3%), South Asia (+13.4%) and Europe (+7.8%), while declines were recorded for Oceania (-0.8%) and ASEAN (-7.0%) markets.
 
Overall, the performance of the medium-haul market and long-haul market showed healthy recovery with +19.3% growth compared to 2017, thus positively impacting upon length of stay and receipts.
 
In terms of overall tourist expenditure, the ASEAN region remained the biggest contributor, contributing a total of RM48.5 billion. Meanwhile, West Asia tourists recorded the highest per capita expenditure with RM9,947, an increase of +6.1% compared with RM9,378.50 in 2017.
 
The top three distribution of tourist receipts went to shopping (33.4%), accommodation (25.7%) and food and beverages (13.4%). Once again, shopping receipts exceeded that of accommodation, growing from a 32.7% share in 2017 to 33.4% share in 2018.
 
Markets showing increase in average lengths of stay included West Asia (9.7 nights), Europe (8.6 nights), South Asia (6.2 nights) and East Asia (6.1 nights).
-Tourism Malaysia.

Sabah traditional dancers perform in London

Dancers from Sabahan Abroad UK who performed at the Commonwealth Family Day.

KOTA KINABALU: The Royal Commonwealth Society has recently invited Sabahan Abroad UK to perform Sabahan traditional dances ‘Sumazau, Daling-Daling, Magunatip’ at Westminster Abbey for Commonwealth Family Day 2019.

This Commonwealth Family Day is to celebrate diverse range of cultures and wide variety of art forms from across the Commonwealth. Hundreds of families with children attended the event to enjoy traditional performances from Commonwealth countries and folk stories from around the world.

The Pangkis, a piercing shout of the lead male dancer, filled the hall. The sound of the gongs soared up gloriously. The dancers took their places and embraced the music. With grace and poise, they slowly swayed rhythmically in sync to the rhythm of the gongs. Like the waves and wind pushing through the wild sea, they danced as if it was the only way to be. With every beat of the gong, one could almost feel, understand the love story of a beautiful history, and just like that, enchantingly, the audience were transported back to North Borneo – every essence of the beat speaks of the beauty of the home they call Land Below the Wind.

The Commonwealth Family Day Celebration at Westminster Abbey, London was a fun-filled family event showcasing great performances from various groups representing some of the Commonwealth countries. Performers included London’s Maori Choir with their traditional Fijian dance, sega dancers from Mauritius and classical Indian Kuchipudi dance.

The Kulintangan Dance Group from Sabahan Abroad UK had the honour of representing Malaysia.

They highlighted the traditional dances of the three largest ethnic groups in Sabah. After some brief introduction from Maya and Christian, the dancers performed the Penampang and Papar sumazau, followed by the Bajau’s famous courtship dance, endearingly known as the Daling Daling. Their performance ended on a high with the Magunatip , a Murut tribal bamboo dance to celebrate the homecoming of victorious warriors. As the dancers took heir last pose, an abrupt wave of cheers and applause echoed the hall. They did their motherland proud!

The guests were then invited to try the Magunatip bamboo dance. Kids and adults happily volunteered to join and experience the fun.

The Kulintangan Dance Group, consisting of Alfred, Laura, Jessie, Izman, Marie, Joel, Leona, Fred and Denis, with Nelda acting as group manager, is a sub division of Sabahan Abroad UK, a non-profit organisation based in England.

Sabahan Abroad UK hopes that by participating in events such as the Commonwealth Family Day, it can help promote Sabah’s cultural and social diversity at an international level.

The Kulintangan Dance Group are looking forward to being present at many future cultural and tourism related events. They hope by showcasing the cultural beauty of Sabah’s various ethnic groups, this will encourage more tourists from the UK and Europe to choose Sabah, and Malaysia in general, as their next travel destination.

As for the Kulintangan Dance Group, it was a surreal and proud moment to have been given the opportunity to represent their country and culture, and share the love of their heritage at the renowned Westminster Abbey. This is one experience they will treasure for a lifetime.

Sabahan Abroad UK believes this performance and activity can allow many visitors to pay more attention at the indigenous groups in Borneo. It is looking forward to being present at many other cultural and tourism related events in future and is confident the impacts of visual information and visual communication can be a great motivating factor to lead travellers with different cultural background to select Malaysia to be their travel destination.

Sabahan Abroad UK is a community organisation and a non-profit organisation based in  the United Kingdom. It is the first established community organisation in the United Kingdom  since 2000.

As of today, there are at least 700 Sabahans residing in the UK with 54 students under the scholarship of Public Service Department, Mara and self-sponsored.

The aims of the organisation are to create a sense of belonging for  many Sabahans who live in the UK through social gatherings, sports and festival celebrations.

Another aim is to promote Sabah’s cultural and social diversity by organising and participating in various cultural and social events in the UK. It hopes its events and activities in London, United Kingdom can help develop cultural tourism and offer new opportunity to promote Sabah cultural tourism in the United Kingdom and Europe.

Its ambition is to set up a cultural centre in London to enhance friendship, amity and understanding between Malaysia and the UK through cultural and education activities. It believes its dedication towards this programme can help further develop established its cultural projects, introduce new opportunities to expand our Malaysian events for many visitors from the UK and Europe.

-borneo post online.

Malaysia: Targeting 30 Million Tourists

Official Country Partners status at World’s Leading Travel Trade Show® - a vital step towards achieving Visit Malaysia 2020 targets

Berlin, 26 February 2019 -With a total of 25.8 million international tourists arriving in Malaysia in 2018, ITB Berlin (6-10 March 2019) will be instrumental in boosting visitor numbers to this exotic, exciting and welcoming destination in line with the nation’s ambitious growth plans. With the Visit Malaysia 2020 campaign in the works, Malaysia’s Ministry for Tourism and Culture is targeting arrival figures 30-million and tourist receipts of RM100bn (eds: €21.66bn) by 2020.

“I believe Malaysia’s cultural uniqueness is a big draw for the European market,” explained Mohamaddin Bin Haji Ketapi, Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture for Malaysia, adding, “As you may know, Malaysia is a melting pot of cultures with influences from Malay, Chinese and Indian ethnicities, as well as from Europe, Arab and the Malay Archipelago. This has resulted in a mixed yet harmonious legacy that manifests itself in Malaysia’s architecture, clothing, language, cuisine and other aspects. As such, the highlight of our presence at ITB this year will be the cultural aspects that we bring to the show.”

“Malaysia’s breath-taking nature, its warm, welcoming multi-cultural peoples, and its exceptional, varied cuisine, have made it a ‘must’ as a destination in Southeast Asia”, said David Ruetz, head of ITB Berlin, adding, “Having Malaysia as our Official Partner Country this year will enhance ever-so-important cultural links and engender more awareness and appreciation, both for us of their culture and traditions, and for them of ours.”

Meanwhile, Zurab Pololikashvili, Secretary-General, World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), stated: “I wish to congratulate Malaysia on being ITB’s partner country for this year. Malaysia is a founding member of UNWTO and one of its most active members, involved at several levels of the Organization’s activities and governing bodies. Malaysia identified tourism as one of the forefront industries in its economy because of tourism’s great potential in job creation, socio-economic development as well as foreign income generation - tourism is currently the 2nd largest foreign exchange earner.”

Visitors to ITB Berlin will have the opportunity to experience Malaysia’s architecture, local food and cultural performances. The country’s colourful national cultural troupe will showcase an hour-long performance during the Opening Gala reflecting the beauty and diversity of Malaysian culture and heritage.

Economic Contribution of Tourism in MalaysiaThe number of employees involved in Malaysia's tourism sector rose to 3.4 million in 2017 from 1.5 million in 2005. Employment in the tourism industry contributed 23.2% to total employment in 2017 (2005: 15%). Most of the jobs in the tourism industry were in the retail trade industry (33.7%) and food & beverage serving services (32.3%) respectively.

Tourism is also important to Malaysia as it helps to empower the local community economically. Taking the Malaysia Homestay Programme as an example, it offers the local village-folk to take part in offering authentic homestay experiences to tourists. In 2017, the revenue generated from the programme reached RM27.6 million (eds: €5.98m).

Statistics show that in 2018, a total of 372,475 tourists (local and foreign) participated in the homestay programme across the nation.

Malaysia is a diverse tourism destination that offers world-class attractions, including nature, shopping, adventure, islands and beaches, as well as many international events, offering visitors a plethora of interesting choices. Besides that, the country is also a major destination for health tourism and MICE events.

“The ‘Malaysia, Truly Asia’ tagline has worked wonders to position our destination’s diversity”, explains the Minister. “It gets the message across that Malaysia is a kaleidoscope of customs, religions, traditions, festivals, heritage, arts and crafts, and cuisines of Malays, Chinese, Indians, and various ethnic group that continues to fascinate visitors from all over the world.” This “Malaysia, Truly Asia” branding continues till today to position Malaysia’s uniqueness.    

New Developments Under WayUpcoming developments such as Desaru Coast in Johor, and Impression City Melaka, once completed, will bring renewed interest in Malaysia.

“We are seeing the industry invigorated by the opening of renowned hotel property brands here,” explains the Minister, adding, “Several established hotel brands have ventured into Malaysia for the first time recently, while some of them are poised to enter the market in the near future. We are pleased that brands such as Double Tree, Hilton, Marriot, Anantara, Westin, Mercure, Sheraton, W, St. Regis, Four Seasons, Hyatt and others see the value of Malaysia for their business expansion and investments.” 

-https://www.itb-convention.com/en/

Idemitsu Asia Road Racing Championship - Round 1 @ Sepang International Circuit, Malaysia ( 8 ~ 10 March 2019 )

-Asia Road Racing Championship.

Malaysia Tourist Arrivals & Receipts 2017

-Tourism Malaysia.
http://mytourismdata.tourism.gov.my

Sabah to woo more tourists from Asean countries

Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents (Matta) president Datuk Tan Kok Liang after launching the inaugural B2B session between Matta Sabah chapter members and Asean tour operators with Sabah Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Christina Liew and Tourism Malaysia deputy director-general (promotion) Datuk Mohmed Razip Hasan.

NSTP/ Malai Rosmah Tuah.

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah is banking on arrivals from Asean countries to boost its tourism industry.

Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents (Matta) president Datuk Tan Kok Liang said to date, the state only has six per cent of tourist arrivals from Southeast Asian nations, compared to 70 per cent heading to Kuala Lumpur and other parts of peninsula Malaysia.

“Sabah has loads of attractions, from food, dive sites, air, wildlife and culture, which it markets to travellers from China, South Korea and within Malaysia.

“The state wants a breakthrough from Asean countries which have much bigger population than Sabah.

“We should be able to do better for the state with direct flights connectivity and assistance from Sabah Tourism Board and Tourism Malaysia,” he said after launching the inaugural B2B session between Matta Sabah chapter members and Asean tour operators here.

Present were Sabah Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Christina Liew and Tourism Malaysia deputy director-general (promotion) Datuk Mohmed Razip Hasan.

Tan added that despite similarities in terms of tourism products within Asean countries, Sabah has its own niches that could cater to the needs of different tourists.

Earlier in his speech, he said this year, Matta would be representing Malaysia at the International Tourism Bourse Berlin in Germany next month by showcasing 28 travel and tour companies and hoteliers.

“Our participation at ITB Berlin will allow us to showcase Malaysia’s products especially Sabah Tourism to more than 10,000 tourism agencies from over 180 countries.

“Matta will also be introducing attractive and fresh itineraries for tour packages to encourage more tourists from Germany and Europe to visit Malaysia,” he said, adding that Western countries have traditionally been contributing to tourism industry thus it is worthy to continue tapping the said market.

Meanwhile, Liew, who is also deputy chief minister said the state government would set up a new strategic direction and provide an enabling environment for industry players to help drive tourism growth.

“We are targeting a diverse range of tourists as we want to balance the number, not only increasing the number of Chinese tourists, but also tourists from Asean and European countries.

“Sabah had recorded 1.36 million international arrivals and 2.52 million domestic arrivals. We are on the right track to achieve our target of 4 million tourist arrivals in 2019.” she added.

-nst online.
https://www.sabahtourism.com/

Up close and personal with Perak products

image: http://tourismperakmalaysia.com/

IPOH: Tourists to Perak will soon get a hands-on experience along with the products they buy in a bid to attract them to the state.

State Tourism Committee chairman Tan Kar Hing said the programme – called “101 Experiences in Perak” – would be launched by Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Ahmad Faizal Azumu.

Using the famous Ipoh White Coffee as an example, he said while a cup would cost about RM2, a full-on experience package on how this was produced could be sold for between RM50 and RM100.

“Tourists will get to experience how coffee beans are roasted and processed into powder. “We also plan to teach conventional coffeeshops how to package the whole expe­rience through the Internet. “If implemented well, it will add value to a product, making it more prestigious and with premium.

“We now have between 80 and 90 matured products ready to offer to tourists for this programme,” Tan told reporters after opening a travel fair here yesterday.

The programme will be launched at the world’s biggest travel trade fair, Interna­tionale Tourismus-Borse Berlin (ITB Berlin) in Germany next month.

He said last year, the state welcomed 267,245 foreign tourists, adding that as of June 2018, there were 151,471 visitors. “There is still room for improvement,” he said.

On the plan to gazette the mangrove swamp in Kuala Gula near Kampung Dew, Taiping, as a permanent forest reserve to protect the firefly habitat, Tan said this was now at its final stage before being presented to the state exco meeting.

“I am not sure how big the area will be but we will gazette a large part of the swamp. “The state is now waiting for reports on technical aspects like the river measurement and the firefly habitat. “We don’t have an exact time frame but we will try to do it as soon as possible. I’ll be vi­­siting the area,” he said.

Tan was responding to reports that several berembang or mangrove apple trees along the Sepetang River near the mangrove swamp had been felled. It is learned that seven trees were chopped down by fishermen there on Sunday. “I’ve read about it. I understand that it was done illegally by farmers to expand their farms,” he said.

-thestar online.
http://tourismperakmalaysia.com/

Boost for tourism - Visit Sarawak Campaign

KUCHING: Sarawak has recorded a higher number of tourist arrivals in January this year as the Visit Sarawak Campaign (VSC) gets underway.

Sarawak Tourism Board (STB) CEO Sharzede Salleh Askor said the state received 361,334 visitors last month compared to 326,347 last January.

Of the total, 214,335 were domestic tourists, up from 154,717 in January last year.

“This is very encouraging compared to last year. We feel that our efforts of being aggressive and intensifying our marketing has shown some results.

“It’s too early to say but we hope this is going to be a positive trajectory for us,” she said after the launch of a VSC car sticker campaign here.

Sharzede said the state’s target of five million tourists this year could be achieved with aggressive promotion in domestic and regional markets.

“Yes, it’s a high target. But I believe that if we put ourselves out there frequently and aggressively, the local market will come in.

“And when we went overseas ever since we launched VSC, there has been a positive response about us and our new products. There’s excitement out there and to me that’s a very positive sign,” she said.

Besides domestic tourists, Sharzede said STB was targetting visitors from Australia, Singapore, Brunei and Indonesia.

“We just came back from Sydney and Melbourne where we received very good response and packages are being looked into.

“We are working closely with the (Indonesian) consulate now, doing promotions and organising Indonesians to come. These are low-hanging fruits that we must capture and get them to come here as frequently as possible.

“Other than that, Europe is our long-haul and high-yield target. We are going to Berlin on March 3 as Europe is a good market for us,” she said.

Tourism, Arts, Culture, Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah, who flagged off the car sticker campaign, said it was part of efforts to promote Sarawak under VSC.

He said the stickers would be distributed to some 2,000 taxis in Kuching as well as other towns like Sibu, Miri and Bintulu.

Passengers can scan QR codes on the stickers to be connected to the STB website for information on attractions.

-thestar online.

https://sarawaktourism.com/

Focus on potential of knowledge and religious tourism with Indonesia

CIREBON (WEST JAVA), Feb 21 (Bernama) -- The prospect of the tourism industry should not be solely conceptualised on leisure and shopping, it should in fact focus on knowledge and religious tourism.

Tour packages with elements of religious and knowledge activities are seen as having a huge potential to attract tourists from Indonesia, a country with 260 million population.

The Malaysian Tourism Council deputy president Datuk Sahariman Hamdan said more than 80 per cent of the people in Indonesia are Muslims and tour agents should be proactive in providing new suitable packages.

"Programmes such umrah packages to the Holy Land for example could help ease the constraint of flights in Indonesia which could not accommodate the demand of its people and it should be seen as a huge potential by Malaysian tour agents.

“Apart from that, there are many religious boarding schools in Indonesia and Malaysia and they could be promoted as a new prospect for tour packages based on knowledge tours” he told Bernama here.

Sahariman who was speaking at the "Malaysia-Indonesia: Tourism Gathering Tasikmalaya/Cirebon" programme organised by Tourism Malaysia in Indonesia, added that Tourism Malaysia had identified more 1,000 such active religious centres in Tasikmalaya and Cirebon in West Java.

“Tour agents should be active in offering such packages apart from touring to other attractive places as well as knowledge centres involving popular local religious personalities to share their knowledge.

“Tour packages should be modified with shopping as secondary activities while highlighting knowledge activities will be more beneficial,” he said.

Meanwhile, ATS Global Travel & Charter Sdn Bhd chief executive officer, Azizie Othman said companies managing packages and flight tickets for umrah in the Holy Land should look at Indonesia as a huge prospect in this sector.

“Last year, we managed the visits of more than 10,000 Indonesian pilgrims to the Holy Land for umrah.

"Many of our customers are from Jakarta, Pekan Baru, Padang, Medan, Surabaya and Bandung, and we are targeting more than 12,000 this year and will explore new areas such as Tasikmalaya and Cirebon," he said.

Indonesia Tourism Malaysia director, Roslan Othman said they are now focusing on new potential areas in Indonesia with the cooperation of regional and district authorities to promote the tourism industry between the two countries for mutual benefits.

“We hope to receive more than 3.4 million tourists from Indonesia to Malaysia in 2019 and as such Malaysian tour agents should be creative and proactive to offer new packages to Indonesian tourists,” he said.

-Bernama.

Malaysia Will Bring Cultural Wonders To ITB BERLIN 2019 As Official Country Partner

ITB Berlin 2019 - Press Conference on attraction for the general public - Behint the rickshaw: David Ruetz, Head of ITB Berlin; Bernd Neff, Co-Founder, Berlin Travel Festival (r.); Sitting in the rickshaw: Dr. Martin Buck, Senior Vice President Travel & Logistics, Messe Berlin and H.E. Datin Sarah Albakri Devadason, Ambassador, Malaysia (r.)

FRANKFURT, GERMANY, 20 Feb 2019: As the official Partner Country 2019 at ITB Berlin this year, Malaysia is going all out to woo the Europe market with its amazing and colourful heritage and culture.

H.E. Sarah Nava Rani Al Bakri Devadason, the Ambassador of Malaysia to Germany, said, “I believe Malaysia’s cultural uniqueness is a big draw for the Europe market. As you may know, Malaysia is a melting pot of cultures with influences from Malay, Chinese and Indian ethnicities, as well as from Europe, Arab and the Malay Archipelago. This has resulted in a mixed yet harmonious legacy that manifests itself in Malaysia’s architecture, clothing, language, cuisine and other aspects. As such, the highlight of our presence at ITB this year will be the cultural aspects that we bring to the show.”

Visitors to the trade show happening from 6-8 March 2019 would have the opportunity to experience Malaysia’s architecture, local food and cultural performances. H.E. Ambassador Sarah Nava Rani said, “We will be bringing in the national cultural troupe to showcase about an hour-long performance during the Opening Gala that reflects the beauty and diversity of Malaysian culture and heritage.”

She added, “Visitors to the Malaysia Pavilion can also get to know the Ring Ladies of Sarawak, so named because of their beauty ritual of wearing copper coiled rings on the forearms and calves respectively. This symbol of beauty is fast disappearing and ITB visitors will be lucky to catch the last remaining Ring Ladies of Sarawak this year.”

Malaysia will also bring a special exhibition of Sarawak scarves called “keringkam.” These are hand-embroidered scarves made using gold thread and is an important part of Sarawak heirloom legacy. Visitors will get to see these treasured headgear and other ornaments that have rarely been exhibited.

The Malaysia Pavilion at Hall 26A, Stand 117, will also display architectural forms adapted from ancient Malay architecture. Besides being the venue for networking and meetings, it will also hold regular cultural performances throughout the exhibition. Delicious Malaysian cuisine, renowned for its generous use of medicinal spices and herbs, will also be made available for the public to sample.

Malaysia’s presence at ITB this year will see a big delegation comprising of state tourism boards, tour operators, tourism product owners, hoteliers, airlines, tourism service providers and more. At current count, there are a total of 170 participants representing 84 organisations taking part from Malaysia.

The entire delegation will be led by the Hon. Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture of Malaysia, Datuk Mohamaddin Ketapi. As well, Datuk Musa Yusof, the Director General of Tourism Malaysia, the agency in charge of tourism promotions, will be there, too.

“We are deeply grateful to accept the Official ITB Partner Country titleship this year as it entails valuable publicity opportunities globally and gives Malaysia the potential to reach out to key decision makers and top industry players in the region,” she added.

Malaysia is stepping up its promotions this year in preparation of Visit Malaysia 2020, during which the target is to welcome 30 million tourist from around the world and RM100 billion tourist receipts.

The German market has demonstrated to be a potentially strong market for Malaysia to pursue. In 2018, Malaysia received a total of 128,644 German tourists, representing a 17.1% growth from 2017. Initiatives such as the Condor Air winter charter flights, TUI’s Fly and Drive packages, partnership with ECTAA, live seminar “Dertouristik Campus 2020,” workshops, familiarization trips and other airline and tour operator collaborations had helped to drive up demand for Malaysia last year. 

In 2019, Malaysia targets 147,000 tourists from Germany to revive Malaysia’s position as a choice holiday destination particularly from this market.

-Tourism Malaysia.

http://www.malaysia.travel/

New dive site in Silam named ‘Journalist Reefs’

Glen showing some of his underwater mapping sketches.

LAHAD DATU: A newly discovered dive site in Silam has been named ‘Journalist Reefs’, in recognition of the Sabah Media Divers for the year-long “End In Sipadan” dive campaign back in 2017.

Pirate Divers founder Glen Hamirullah said the dive site was named after the local media for their contributions towards spreading the beauty of the undisturbed dive sites in Silam waters.

“Journalist Reefs has a depth of between 27 and 30 metres, a dive site meant for advanced or experienced open water divers.

“The dive site has huge corals on one site, while on the west one can see white sands and huge rocks,” he said, adding that among the marine habitats are blue and yellow-tail fusilier, stonefish, big eyed fish and nudibranch.

The ‘Journalist Reefs’, said Glen, is one of the 55 dive sites discovered in Silam waters when Pirate Divers first began their operation in 2009.

Gifted with underwater mapping talent without the need for sophisticated equipment or gadgets, the 56-year-old local-born dive instructor is known as one of the best underwater mapping divers in the country.

He has mapped several hundreds of Malaysia’s most beautiful dive sites since 1997, and reckoned there were more beautiful and untouched dive sites that had yet to be explored in Lahad Datu.

“Lahad Datu has many beautiful and undisturbed dive sites with coral reefs at depths of 27 to 30 metres.

“Here at Silam waters, whale shark can be seen between March and May, while schools of tuna fish are found between October and December,” said Glen.

One of the best dive sites in Silam is the ‘Japanese Timber Wreck’, a vessel that was sunken in the 1980s, now lying peacefully at a depth of 10 meters on the sea bed.

Pirate Divers, which brings divers on a traditional fishing boat, is one of the operators featured in the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture Malaysia year-long “End in Sipadan” campaign in 2017 to promote diving trails around Sabah.

-borneo post online.