KOTA KINABALU, Sabah, Malaysia – The Sabah Tourism, Culture and Environment Ministry and Sabah Tourism Board (STB) will hold a special briefing for foreign missions in Kuala Lumpur on safety of tourists spots in the state on Dec 4.
“We want them to get the right picture. We always practise openness and we want to assure them that Sabah is safe and there is nothing to hide,” its minister, Datuk Masidi Manjun told reporters after launching a book on Sabah’s ethnic group customs published by Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka here Thursday.
He said so far, there was no cancellation of flights or travel packages to Sabah and the ministry was taking proactive steps to update information on the security situation in the state.
Masidi urged tourism industry players to give positive feedbacks to the public and tourists in the wake of the murder-abduction incident on Pom Pom island near Semporna as the tourism industry involves the entire population of Sabah.
Gunmen shot dead a Taiwanese tourist and abducted his wife on the resort island of Pom Pom near Semporna on Nov 15.
In another development, Masidi said the government would nominate three more tourist spots in Sabah as world heritage sites, namely the Danum Valley in the east coast of Sabah, Maliau Basin in the south and Kanyon Imbak in Ulu Kinabatangan in the central region.
He said a committee was studying the details to be submitted to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation’s (Unesco) World Heritage Centre for consideration.
Currently the Kinabalu National Park, which is dominated by Mount Kinabalu, is Sabah and Malaysia’s first World Heritage Site declared by Unesco in 2000.
