Rural tourism business to narrow income gap — Dawos

KUCHING: Tourism can narrow the income disparity gap between rural and urban communities, says Deputy Minister of Tourism Datuk Dr James

Met during a meet-the-people session at Kpg Jambu near here yesterday, he said cultural and eco-tourism involving mountain trekking and homestay which involves bed-and-breakfast type accommodation could help raise the income of the operators, not to mention the many job opportunities available to local people.

He said tourism was one of the fastest growing industries in developing countries like Malaysia, which had mountains and jungle for jungle trekking and people of diverse background who are culturally rich.
“Sarawak is blessed in that its population is made up of people of various races who practise different religions yet are able to mix freely with each other. Sarawak is also home to flora and fauna not found elsewhere. Its mountains offer scenic beauty making them prime tourist destinations.”

Quoting Unesco researchers, he said community-based tourism which was driven by homestay programme, the operators could easily generate income of not less than RM2,000 a month.

As such, he recommended that bio-tourism activities be included in the (homestay) programme.

“Bio-tourism can include visits to farms and gardens where tourists can involve themselves in the traditional farming practices while the homestay operators can bring tourists to natural attractions in their areas or engage them in river cruises, kayaking, rafting or fishing.”

He said tourism-based activities should be expanded to the rural areas as one way to alleviate poverty, reduce rural-urban migration and preserve the cultural and natural heritage of the rural community.

“On the part of my ministry, we are always finding ways to promote community participation as a way of generating employment opportunities for the rural populace and to get them out of the cycle of poverty as well as their isolation and marginalisation due to their remoteness,” he said.

Drawing on experiences gained from regional and Himalayan community-based eco-tourism projects, Dawos said their methodology could be promoted and expanded to Sarawak, whose mountainous areas were homes to communities that could well benefit from eco-tourism.


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