{"id":4028,"date":"2026-05-05T12:12:21","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T12:12:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/?p=4028"},"modified":"2026-05-05T12:15:04","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T12:15:04","slug":"mah-stb-to-align-strategies-amid-tourism-slowdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/?p=4028","title":{"rendered":"MAH, STB to align strategies amid tourism slowdown"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>KOTA KINABALU: May 5, 2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Deputy Chief Minister II and Finance Minister Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun has urged the Malaysian Association of Hotels (MAH) Sabah and Labuan and the Sabah Tourism Board (STB) to work together more strategically in aligning tourism marketing with current conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He made the call as several hotels around Kota Kinabalu have been directly affected, with occupancy rates declining in recent times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The situation stems from two main factors: global uncertainties caused by ongoing conflicts in the Middle East and shifting travel patterns, with tourists increasingly opting for Vietnam as an emerging destination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" data-id=\"4029\" src=\"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/img-20260505-wa00111276436884130711388.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4029\" srcset=\"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/img-20260505-wa00111276436884130711388.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/img-20260505-wa00111276436884130711388-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/img-20260505-wa00111276436884130711388-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/img-20260505-wa00111276436884130711388-600x400.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The hospitality industry in Sabah is currently facing challenges following a drop in foreign tourist arrivals to the state capital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This was conveyed by MAH Sabah and Labuan chairman Suresh Ramasamy during a courtesy visit with his delegation to Masidi\u2019s office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Masidi said there is a need to strengthen domestic tourism promotion, particularly by targeting high-potential markets in the Klang Valley, Penang and Johor Bahru.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He said there is significant potential to attract more high-income domestic tourists, who are largely concentrated in these areas, to help revitalise the state\u2019s tourism industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Masidi said Sabah must be more proactive in developing new and unique tourism products to remain competitive against emerging alternative destinations in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWith the right strategy and fresh product offerings, Sabah still has its own strengths to attract tourists, both domestic and international,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>KOTA KINABALU: May 5, 2026 Deputy Chief Minister II and Finance Minister Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun has urged the Malaysian Association of Hotels (MAH) Sabah and Labuan and the Sabah Tourism Board (STB) to work together more strategically in aligning tourism marketing with current conditions. He made the call as several hotels around Kota Kinabalu&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4030,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4028","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/IMG-20260505-WA0022.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4028","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4028"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4028\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4031,"href":"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4028\/revisions\/4031"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4030"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4028"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4028"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4028"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}