Over 2,000 of Sarawak’s tourism and business events industry frontliners have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19 during the final phase of the Industrial Covid-19 Vaccination Programme in July 2021 at the Association of Churches Sarawak, Kuching.

Sarawak is the first state in Malaysia to complete the industrial vaccination programme for tourism and business events partners, led by the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture Sarawak (MTAC) in collaboration with the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture Malaysia (MOTAC), Sarawak Tourism Federation (STF), Ministry of Health of Malaysia (Kementerian Kesihatan Malaysia) and Timberland Medical Centre.

According to MTAC, the prospect of reopening Sarawak for tourism and business events is high. ”This is a timely development as the Ministry of Tourism Malaysia (MOTAC) is implementing the Covid-19 Free Destination Programme which would enable main tourism and business events cities to reopen once the targeted herd immunity of 80% is achieved,” said Dato’ Sri Hajah Nancy Shukri, Malaysia‘s Tourism Minister. She added that business events will be one of her Ministry’s main focus during Malaysia’s phase three of the National Recovery Plan.

Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah, Sarawak’s Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture (MTAC), says: “Sarawak’s four-phase recovery roadmap includes the reopening of domestic travel activities by phase three and we have just entered phase two of the roadmap. Currently, Sarawak holds the highest record in the country with 71.4% of its adult population having been vaccinated with at least 1st dose, while 31% of the adult population has completed both doses. We anticipate entering phase three by the end of August where we aim to restart tourism and business events in Sarawak by the 4th quarter this year.”

From the business events industry perspective, this development is much awaited news for business events players. “The business events industry is finally one step closer to restarting again,” said Amelia Roziman, CEO of Business Events Sarawak. “We are 70% in delivering our State recovery plan for business events with updated SOP and improved incentivised packages, alongside creative marketing and promotional materials to ensure the success of the events that are being held in Sarawak. We are all eager to restart again and can’t wait to launch our brand new recovery efforts soon”.