STB pays tribute to Sabah tourist guides | Daily Express Online

STB pays tribute to Sabah vacationer guides

Printed on: Tuesday, February 22, 2022

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Kota Kinabalu: The Sabah tourism trade has come a good distance in offering guests with a secure, entertaining, and high-quality journey expertise by vacationer guiding.Even when confronted with adversity, native vacationer guides keep their resilience and optimism by contributing progressive concepts to drive and revitalise the state’s tourism exercise.
To stay related within the face of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Sabah Tourism Board (STB) has labored with the Sabah Vacationer Guides Affiliation (STGA) to reinvent journey excursions and experiences geared toward each native markets and broader audiences through the Web.

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This effort additionally contains offering native vacationer guides with STB-sponsored On-line Guided Tour (OGT) programs, which began in October final yr, that may permit them to grow to be proficient in main digital excursions.
Whereas journey info is available on-line, STB Chief Govt Officer, Noredah Othman believed that vacationer guiding continues to be essential for giving travellers a greater understanding of locations, individuals, and tradition.
“The tourism trade has been hit exhausting by the pandemic. Nevertheless, even within the absence of vacationers, we should proceed to look forward and innovate to maintain tourism exercise going, and that is unimaginable with out the help of our skilled tour guides.
“As there are nonetheless restrictions on journey, OGT is one of the simplest ways to point out the world what Sabah has to supply. Subsequently, native guides are and have at all times been the right advocates for our tourism as a result of they’re outstanding storytellers with the flexibility to draw vacationers to go to Sabah,” stated Noredah.
She added collaboration within the ongoing digital tour demonstrating the significance of their function in selling Sabah by conveying tales about many matters like historical past, World Battle 2, conventional vegetation, wildlife, and even historic stone monuments, amongst others.
“As we rejoice Worldwide Vacationer Information Day 2022, Sabah Tourism expresses gratitude to native tour guides for his or her endless dedication and contribution to tourism promotion. At STB, we’re at all times able to assist our guides and STGA,” she stated.
Such helps embody backing STGA in latest bidding to host the 2024 World Federation of Vacationer Information Associations Conference.

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Though misplaced to Italy with a mere 4 votes, STGA nonetheless has managed to place Sabah on the world tourism map.
Sabah has about 1,200 licensed vacationer guides, with 650 of them being STGA members.
STGA President, Grace Leong stated vacationer guides are instrumental in selling tourism, stressing their commentaries or narration of locations are essential in offering info to vacationers whereas on a guiding task.
“In Sabah, our tourism is predicated primarily on eco-tourism. And not using a vacationer information, vacationers won’t perceive or have minimal data of the locations visited, together with vegetation, wildlife, and tradition.
“Vacationer guides are certainly indispensable in Sabah tourism bundle…In collaboration with STB, the affiliation has performed digital strolling excursions and the continued OGTs on Fb.
“It will help in selling Sabah because the vacation spot of selection globally. The OGTs have drawn 1000’s of viewers because the programme began on Jan 21 this yr,” she stated.
Moreover, she stated STGA helps to attach vacationer guides with varied on-line platforms to allow them to earn an revenue by OGTs and complement this with in-person guiding when tourism doorways reopen.

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“Sure, we’re resilient. Whereas a lot of our tour guides at the moment are working full-time or part-time in different jobs, we’re nonetheless ready for our worldwide border to reopen as soon as the pandemic has handed,” stated Grace.
Together with the Worldwide Vacationer Information Day on Monday (Feb 21), STB and STGA are additionally collaborating with the Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) on a web-based webinar specializing in “Restoration and Development of Tourism: The Function of Vacationer Guides.” 
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