MIRI: Sarawak is to aggressively promote northern Sarawak particularly Miri City as a venue for meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions (MICE) as well as medical tourism which are fast gaining popularity in the state.
Tourism Minister, Datuk Amar Abang Johari Tun Openg said with the completion of the five-star Pullman Miri Waterfront Hotels and Resorts by mid 2015, Miri City will be well-positioned to host many MICE events.
“Miri now has 2,400 hotel rooms and with Pullman, this will be increased by 328 rooms.
“It will be just nice for MICE which normally attracts about 1,500 participants and above,” he said here yesterday after officiating at the signing ceremony of Hotel Management Agreement between Unique Harvest Sdn Bhd and Accors Group for Pullman Miri Waterfront.
Among those present were the Mayor of Miri City Lawrence Lai, Deputy Miri Resident Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusuf, Miri District Officer Boniface Intang, Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Tourism, Datuk Ik Pahon Joyik, chief operating officer of Accor Malaysia-Indonesia-Singapore Gerard Guillouet, director of Unique Harvests Datuk Hii Chang Pee and wife Datin Lau Ngok Yung and Unique Harvests project director Alice Hu Yun Bin.
MICE and medical tourism industries contributed tremendously to the increase in tourist arrivals in Sarawak last year with 60 per cent consisting of foreign tourists.
Abang Johari said last year, he said 4.37 million tourists came to Sarawak, an increased by seven percent from 3.8 per cent in 2012.
With Miri City poised to become an emerging player in MICE and medical tourism coupled with its strategic location besides having other unique tourism products, the growth of the tourism industry here is expected to be accelerated soon.
“Miri City, compared with other important MICE destinations like Kuala Lumpur and Singapore, has many advantages – like facing no major traffic jams – and still having world class facilities,” he said.
source:The Borneo Post