News From : DagangHalal.com (07 Aug 2009)
KUCHING: Sarawak’s niche culture, adventure and nature products have to be effectively promoted to attract more tourists, said Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud.
These tourism products, he said, appealed to those who want to get away from city life.
“We have to effectively promote tourism so that small operators are able to sell their products directly to clients,” he said when launching Mimos Centre of Excellence in Semantic Technology and Augmented Reality at Universiti Malaysia Sarawak in Samarahan near here yesterday.
The centre set up in collaboration with the university is to support the growth and development of the Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy (SCORE).
Taib said the state had to set up its tourism database and photography to promote the industry.
The Mimos centre, he said, should work closely with Borneo Convention Centre to redesign the tourism marketing system and to train tourism players to be ICT savvy.
On SCORE, Taib said the state needs a pool of knowledgable and skilled workers who can absorb the sophisticated technologies and to set up energy-intensive industries.
He said the halal hub in Tanjung Manis in the Mukah Division also needed to train people for research and development activities.
Taib added that some RM70bil was expected to be poured in to develop the infrastructure within SCORE in the next 20 years.