Kota Kinabalu: Labuan has adopted effective measures to increase activities and promotions related to tourism, said Labuan Joint Tourism Development Bimp-Eaga Business Council (BEBC) Head Jerry Teo.
Teo said, several works had been done to support this initiatives such as upgrade works of tourist facilities like Layang-Layangan Village and the development of geopark.
Labuan’s ecotourism product, Labuan Geopark has been recognised as national geopark on Dec 16, 2021 during the National Geopark Committee Meeting.
“We at Labuan BEBC support Bimp-Eaga tourism initiative to make its member countries including Labuan as preferred ecotourism destination in the Asia Pacific,” he said during the 18th Bimp-Eaga Joint Tourism Development (JTD) Cluster Meeting, here, recently.
“The uniqueness of Labuan makes the duty-free island has the potential to becoming tourist destination.”
Hosted by Malaysia, the hybrid meeting was chaired by Indonesia to discuss and update on the 2020-2022 Rolling Pipeline Projects emphasising on four strategic pillars namely Tourism Access and Support Infrastructure, Ecotourism Product Development, Human Resources Development in Tourism, and Nature, Culture and Heritage Management Promotion.
The meeting also highlighted convergence initiatives with other Eaga Clusters such as Transport, Environment, and Socio-Cultural and Education.
In addition to convergence with other clusters, JTD also collaborated with development partners such as Asean China Centre, Korea and Northern Territory of Australia in developing Bimp-Eaga regional tourism.
The Bimp-Eaga Tourism Support Initiatives presentation by Asian Development Bank (ADB) explained to the delegates on its effort to boost the Eaga tourism through digital platform.
A subsidy of US$5,000 will be given to five country to strengthen joint tourism marketing and promotions of Eaga destinations using various branding platforms and marketing strategies.
The JTD Cluster is also reviewing the strategic plan for Bimp-Eaga Vision 2025 (BEV2025) by ADB with the goal of establishing Eaga as an eco-tourism destination of choice in Asia Pacific.
“BEBC Labuan is always prepared to collaborate with facilitator authority to facilitate administration and information sharing with business owners.
“With grants offered by China, Japan, Korea and Australia for selected industry, we highly encourage business owners to take this opportunity to grow their business and at the same time can help to boost the socio-economy and tourism industry in Labuan,” said Teo.
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