Sunday, October 27, 2013

Special Tourism Fund to boost Sabah’s tourism industry


The tourism industry players in Sabah need to grab the RM2 billion Special Tourism infrastructure fund that was announced by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak when he presented the 2014 Budget last Friday.

Sabah Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister, Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun said that the fund would help to boost the rapid growth of the industry in the state.

“I’ve just had a meeting with hoteliers and I was been informed that the average occupancy is 92 percent this year; one of the highest in the country.

“We have also received double the number of tourists from China this year compared to last year.

This shows that we need more hotels,” he said responding to the 2014 Budget at the Chief Minister official residence at Sri Gaya.

Masidi said that the funds allocated in the budget were timely and will greatly help the government’s effort to promote tourism industry in the state.

The RM2bil will be provided to the Special Tourism Fund under Bank Pembangunan Malaysia Berhad.

The fund will provide soft loans at low interest rates between 4 percent and 6 percent, with the government providing a subsidy of 2 percent.

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