Hello… so yours truly is just backafter a few days in the land of the headhunters, hornbills, and beautiful nature reserves… none other then the largest state in Malaysia, Sarawak – the land where adventure lives and yes… 3 days was barely enough.. I still haven’t gotten to see much of Sarawak.. sighh… there is soooo much to see and so little time…

But nevertheless, thank you to MITA and Tourism Nexus Productivity for the little taste of Sarawak..

Tourism Productivity Nexus (TPN) was established under the purview of Economic Planning Unit (EPU).

TPN is a platform for industry to drive productivity initiatives in collaboration with the Government.

There are five (5) main initiatives outlined under TPN as follows:

T1: Strengthen collaboration efforts between industry and academia to match industry needs

T2: Establish a certification /accreditation programme for tourist sites to boost tourist volume and improve services delivery

T3: Product owners to review pricing system of sites

T4: Review industry standards and regulations with industry’s input

T5: Align marketing strategy on targeted market segment

In line with the 5th initiative outlined in the Malaysia Productivity Blueprint (MPB), TPN has initiated the Showcasing Tourism Products to further enhance marketing strategy of tourism industry in Malaysia, increase revenue and competitiveness of enterprises / SMEs through productivity and explore new tourism products in each state…

And Sarawak happened to be the 4th state in Malaysia which is being explored and covered…

In this edition, some 80 tourism industry players from Peninsula Malaysia and 100 tourism industry players got together at the ballroom of Pullman Hotel, Kuching to identify new and ready tourism products which has been prioritised for further tourism activities…

At the same time, tourism industry players from Peninsula Malaysia were taken to selected tourist destinations such as Jong’s Crocodile Farm, Semenggoh Nature Reserve, Sarawak Cultural Village, Sarawak Layer Cake factory, Satok Market, Kuching Waterfront and Fort Magherita …

The productivity program is the first of its kind in Sarawak which involves the tourism industry represented by Tourism Productivity Nexus along with Malaysia Productivity Council (MPC) and the Sarawak Ministry of Tourism, Arts, Culture, Youth and Sports…

The event was officiated by YB Datuk Abang Haji Abdul Karim bin Tun Datuk Abang Haji Openg, Board of Directors for MPC.

En Uzaidi Udanis, Chairman of Tourism Productivity Nexus and President of Malaysia Travel Council said that Showcasing Tourism Products programme is one of the ways to introduce Tourism.Productivity Nexus to all tourism industry players with the target of it being a tourism industry catalyst with multiplier effects to further boost tourism activities in each destination which has been covered…

Following up from the Showcasing Tourism Products, a special platform has also been launched known as the Tourism Arrival Performance System (TAPS) as well as the regular Tourism – B2B which is an online electronic platform that enables travel agents, product owners, hotel management and transport management to maximise business opportunities via opportunities and information sharing ..

Among the activities that happened in conjunction with the event was the Business Matchmaking session in bwtween local product owners and tourist agencies; a forum session to discuss the latest issues in Sarawak tourism industry and face to face consultation in regards to Productivity Gain Measurement (PGM) in electronic form ePGM and Business Excellence work module made easy (ezBE) to all tourism industry players…

At the same time 4 industry sector associations signed a productivity pledge to work on productivity initiatives which is in the Malaysia Productivity Blueprint….

Ok.. Next stop Kota Kinabalu which I am pretty excited about too… but hey… bring me back to Sarawak.. I want to explore more.. I want to see those proboscis monkeys and hornbills and more of those gorgeous natives and even the head hunters…

Oh by the way we had a tour guide while here in Kuching, Cornelia or Connie and she was just such a lovely guide who entertained us, even sang to us, reminded us she had the sweetest smile in Sarawak and threatened us saying she was the grand daughter of a head hunter… hahaha… but yes, I miss her now… hope to see her again…