KUALA LUMPUR – Around 1.6 million tourists entered Sarawak between January and May this year, said Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Arts Minister Datuk Seri Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah today.

Abdul Karim said the ministry was optimistic that tourist arrivals would hit three million by the year end, thus exceeding the state’s target this year.

“We know we will surpass our target of three million (tourist arrivals). We have a lot of activities planned for this year, (particularly) the upcoming AIFFA (ASEAN International Film Festival and Awards) in August,” he told a press conference after launching the AIFFA 2023 KL at the National Academy of Arts, Culture and Heritage here, today.

Sarawak recorded 2.02 million visitors last year.

Abdul Karim said Sarawak was also poised to become a regional hub for umrah pilgrims from Borneo to travel to Saudi Arabia, further enhancing the number of visitor arrivals into the state.

The Sarawak Tourism Board launched the Kuching Umrah Gateway in Oct last year, with its first flight scheduled to take off on Aug 29 from Kuching to Jeddah.

Under the initiative, Kuching will be positioned as a stopover point for umrah travellers including those from the nearby regions of Kalimantan, Brunei and southern Philippines.

 The 6th edition of the AIFFA 2023 will be held in the Kuching, Sarawak from August 2-4. A total of 120 entries will be competing for 12 prestigious awards.

Started in 2013, the biennial festival has been hosted in the capital of Sarawak four times, with the last being held in 2019.

The previous editions of the festival saw the attendance of top celebrities such as Jackie Chan (2015), Donnie Yen (2017) and Steven Seagal (2019). – Bernama