Former Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Seri Christina Liew is delighted that Sabah has achieved its target of 3.5 million tourist arrivals set for 2025.
She attributed this accomplishment to the relentless efforts put in by the ministry (KePKAS) and its agencies, namely Sabah Tourism Board (STB), Sabah Convention Bureau (SCB), Sabah Parks Board of Trustees, State Museum Department, Sabah Cultural Board (LKNS), Sabah Wildlife Department, Environment Protection Department, and Sabah-Malaysia My Second Home (Sabah-MM2H) Committee.
Liew also credited the state’s tourism players comprising tour and travel agents, tour operators and guides, transporters, hotels, restaurants, cultural centres, tourism-related organisations and a culinary association for contributing to tourism growth in Sabah, as well as groups that are promoting Kota Kinabalu as a gastronomic city.
For this, she commended STB Chief Executive Officer Julinus Jeffery Jimit and his intrepid team in marketing Sabah as a desirable travel destination, physically and on digital media platforms.
She said STB has been consistent in featuring and promoting the tourist hotspots and services internationally in collaboration with the other government agencies under KePKAS.
“Congratulations to all government agencies involved, stakeholders and individuals from the private sector who have played a significant role in promoting Sabah to the outside world. I am indeed very happy.
“I won’t go into the specifics. Suffice for me to say that the tourist and visitor arrivals from the international and domestic source markets have posted a double-digit growth as compared to the arrival figures for 2024,”
Liew said in a statement that the Visit Malaysia 2026, will see Sabah offers new tourism products and upgraded tourism facilities to lure more tourists and visitors.
During Liew’s tenure (2018-2020 and 2023-2025), she led delegations from KePKAS and STB to various countries to aggressively promote Sabah as a premier tourist destination, including Abu Dhabi, UAE, where she introduced Sabah to 1,500 delegates from 78 countries , many of whom said they had not heard about Sabah when met at the 63rd International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) World Congress in 2024.
In 2023, she officially launched Sabah’s new destination rebranding with ‘Feel Sabah, North Borneo’ at the ITB Berlin, the world’s leading travel trade show.
