When people mentioned about Kuching, in their mind will be Kuching Waterfront, Main Bazaar, Sarawak Cultural Village, Sarawak Museum, just to name a few. Talked about Miri, in their mind definitely UNESCO World Heritage site Mulu National Park, Niah National Park, Grand Old Lady, any many others. Central Region…….eeemmmmmm, let me guess The Mighty Rajang River The Longest River in Malaysia or Pelagus Rapid? Maybe Yes maybe No!Why Malaysian want to go to China, Australia, United Kingdom and New Zealand? In return why overseas tourists want to visit our country? Let put ourselves in visitors’ shoes. There must be something special in our country that outside visitors’ cannot find in their country which attracts them to visit our place. In our country we live in harmony and peacefully even though there are so many ethnic groups staying together as one "big family". Our unique culture, beautiful nature and challenging adventure products have attract them to visit our country.
We should not compare ourselves with other popular tourist spot in the world because we are still far behind. Use it as bench mark for us to develop our own tourism industry. Let see our tourist basic facilities such as tourist guide, tour bus, hotels, historical site, beaches and other support facilities. Are we ready to cater for tourist demand? “Like chicken and egg”, no tourist why should we build more hotels or employ tourist guide. That is common words were used in our community. For example Vietnam, was one of the poor country in the world have develop their tourism industry as one of the major industry in the country. Well known as “war ground” before but now they have put themselves as one of the popular tourist destination among travelers around the world.
If Southern and Northern part of Sarawak have successfully developed their tourism business and as a must destination in travel agent package list! why not Central Sarawak. There are plenty of tourism product in Central Sarawak under “utilise” or have not develop by local tour operator and relevant agencies. Inbound tour packages by local tour operator also bring important element to promote central region Sarawak as preferred tourist destination. It is wake up time for all tourism players in Central Region and for local community they should ready to change their mind set. Tourism means business and it is for everyone. Nothing is impossible if you are committed to do it. If you don’t know, please refer to the relevant tourism authority.