A series of tourism focused presentations, activities, and performances will showcase Malaysia’s Borneo state of Sabah as an enchanting destination during Sabah Week at the Malaysia Pavilion in Expo 2020 Dubai. The trade and business programme will be held from 20th to 24th December 2021.

It is expected to attract tour agencies, potential investors, business interests and international visitors as the state will also highlight investment potentials in flagship industrial parks, world-class meeting facilities and locally produced SME products.

Sabah Week will be launched by Sabah Deputy Chief Minister III, The Honourable Datuk Dr. Joachim Gunsalam, who is also the state Minister of Industrial Development.

Also in attendance will be Sabah’s Minister of Tourism, Culture and Environment, The Honourable Datuk Jafry Arifin, Sabah Ministry of Industrial Development (MID), Invest Sabah Berhad, Sabah Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Environment (MTCE), Sabah Tourism Board, Sabah Forestry Department, Sabah State Economic Planning Unit, and Sabah Ministry of Finance.

Sabah is among the highest performing states in Malaysia for tourism, recording 4.19 million arrivals in 2019 with an estimation of RM9.01 billion in tourism expenditure. Pre-pandemic, the tourism industry was the third-highest contributor to the state’s economic sector and will continue to be the state’s focus under the Sabah Maju Jaya development plan.

“Malaysia recorded about 170,000 visitors from West Asia in 2019 and the majority of these arrivals limit their travel to Peninsular Malaysia. Our plan is to continuously promote our destinations, to lure these visitors to experience Sabah’s best diving sites, islands, and nature since they are already in the country” said Noredah Othman, Chief Executive Officer of Sabah Tourism Board.

The Expo 2020 Dubai is a historic chapter in the World Expo heritage as it is the very first time it is held in the Middle East and South Asia region.

“I believe there is the potential to encourage Middle East visitors to make Sabah their stopover destination when travelling to Malaysia. The Expo 2020 will make a great platform for us to do business networking and to introduce the variety of hotel options available in Sabah,” said Mr Hafizan Wong, Chairman of Malaysian Association Hotels (MAH) Sabah Chapter.

SATTA Chairman, Datuk Seri Winston Liaw said that Expo 2020 is a great avenue to introduce Sabah to the whole world: “We expect to attract 50 thousand visitors from the Middle East and the rest of the world. SATTA will also use this opportunity to further strengthen the relationship, communications and interactions between Sabah players and the rest of the world, thus propelling Sabah Tourism to greater heights.”

The Malaysia Pavilion Amphitheatre will host a series of enchanting Sabah showcases, cultural dance performances, trivia sessions as well as Sabah’s local crafts and cuisines presentation by Kristal Handal, and enterprises under the guidance of Department of Industry Development and Research (DIDR) Sabah.

Meanwhile, trade visitors are welcome to attend presentations by various Sabah industry participants. Among them are Sabah Tourism Board, Malaysian Association Hotels (Sabah Chapter), Sabah Association of Tour and Travel Agents (SATTA), and AIC Footprints Travels and Tours, Sabah Forestry, Invest Sabah, Kota Kinabalu Industrial Park and Palm Oil Industrial Cluster Sabah (POIC) at the pavilion’s Business Centre.

More information on programmes and participating companies from Sabah can be obtained from expo2020dubai.sabahtourism.com

Malaysia’s participation in Expo 2020 Dubai is spearheaded by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation with the Malaysian Green Technology and Climate Change Corporation as implementing agency.

Malaysia is hosting 26 weekly thematic trade and business programmes throughout the six-month global expo, which will be led and supported by 21 ministries, 70 departments and agencies and five state governments.