Four nations contribute to highest visitor intake to Sabah with more than 500,000 arrivals

KOTA KINABALU: Four countries – China and neighbouring Brunei, Indonesia and the Philippines – contributed to the highest numbers of international visitors to Sabah for the first eight months of this year with 586,501 arrivals.

Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor said this was a huge increase from last year, as the total arrivals for the whole of 2023 from the four nations was 427,077.

Based on Sabah Immigration Department’s statistics, the numbers of foreign tourists have drastically improved within the five years since 2020, particularly from China, Brunei, Indonesia and the Philippines, he said during an appreciation ceremony held by the Department here on Wednesday night (Sept 18).

“Of course, we can expect the figure of foreign tourist arrivals from these four countries to continue on the uptrend progressing towards the year-end.

“This improvement is a positive trend in developing the state economy and I hope to see a spike in tourist arrivals from other countries as well.

“The ease of tourist arrivals including foreign investors coming to Sabah, has been facilitated by a good rapport and governance system between the Sabah state government and the Immigration Department in ensuring an efficient immigration process,” he said in his speech.

Hajiji believed that ease of entry into the state including the application of travelling passes, showcased the government’s commitment to create a conducive and business-friendly environment besides attracting tourists.

He noted that Sabah’s size provides challenges to the Immigration Department in handling entries into the state, stressing that the commitment and dedication of all staff are needed in manning the 11 entry points into Sabah.

“At the same time, Sabah bordering several nations and anticipating Indonesia’s new capital Nusantara, signals the need to improve cross-border security aspect,” he stressed, adding that two Immigration, Customs, Quarantine and Security (ICQS) complexes have been approved in Sabah as announced last year.