THE numbers might not be there in Sarawak’s latest internal tourism drive but its Sia Sitok campaign has been hailed a success and a life saver to its most battered economic sector.

Sarawak Tourism Federation president Audrey Wan Ullok said visitors were nowhere close to pre-pandemic levels but overall the federation still viewed the campaign as a success.

STF manages the campaign on behalf of the Sarawak Tourism Board (STB).

Ullok, a hotelier, told The Malaysian Insight that STF feels all the three Sia Sitok programmes that had been rolled out to date had achieved the goals.

“The aim is to encourage travel within the state and therefore create business opportunities for ground handling agents, tourist guides, transport businesses and others who were suffering during the pandemic.”

She said as visitors could not come to Sarawak due to the state closing its borders to curb the spread of the Covid-19, the campaign was therefore to “get our local Sarawak folk to discover their own hidden gems in our backyard”.

According to Ullok, the state government is providing a 50% subsidy for tour packages.

The campaign offers dozens of “exciting” attractions, tours and activities throughout the state, including day trips and full-board stays.

“There is something for everyone,” the STF said.

The first campaign, Sia Sitok Sarawak 1.0, launched on July 15, 2020, had 5,656 people signing for 942 tours.

The most popular tour by bookings and number of people was the Sarawak River sunset cruise with 531 booking until the campaign ended on March 31 last year.

This was followed by the Padawan kayak tour and the tour to the Gunung Mulu national park, which has some of the world’s largest cave systems.

Outdoors adventure package like the Padawan kayak tour, to the waterfalls of Kg Sting in Bengoh just outside Kuching and the adventure overnight are also popular, according to STF records, as is white water rafting.

A further 6,363 people signed up for the second programme launched on April 1 last year, with tour bookings rising to 861.

The great outdoors seemed to be the pull in this second campaign with the most popular tours – by bookings are the day-fishing off Miri (183 bookings), Borneo Tropical Rainforest Resort day trip (159) and Miri fun dive (126).

With the travel restrictions lifted and borders reopened on April 1, Sia Sitok Sarawak 3.0 – running from March 1 to May 31 this year – has seen a slump in in numbers, just half of last year’s bookings.

A walk in the Borneo tropical rainforest, the Mulu tours and the day fishing Off Miri nonetheless remain the most popular tours.

Ullok said there is still a lot of optimism in the campaign and Sia Sitok 4.0 is on the drawing board, planned for September-October.

She said the campaign had been allocated a budget of RM1 million. – April 24, 2022.