Kota Kinabalu: Sabah’s tourism recovery has been very promising in 2023 and more are due in 2024-2025, coming for its beaches, forests, coral reefs, and some of the world’s top diving destinations, such as Sipadan and Mabul, which could reach beyond 2.3 million visitors.
Veteran hotel sale brokers such as Zerin Properties Group CEO and founder Previndran Singhe, a Sabahan, said Sabah has become a popular tourist destination with an increasing upswing in domestic and international arrivals. Previndran said the existing supply of three- to five-star hotels in Kota Kinabalu is inadequate, particularly during festive periods.
“There is a need for good-quality international branded hotels to cater for the anticipated increase in arrivals from the international market.”
He noted that the State Government had been proactively attracting hoteliers to increase the number of rooms in the four- to five-star category, in tandem with the flourishing tourism industry.
SPONSORED CONTENT RM20bil green steel project: Sabah on its way to adopting green technology, says Hajiji Kota Kinabalu: Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor said Sabah is well on its way to fully adopting the green technology revolution with a RM20 billion green steel project at the Sipitang Oil and Gas Industrial Park (Sogip). Read more The tourism boom has also resulted in more shophouses and shop lots being converted into hotels or hostels.
The latest planned conversion is a heritage building that used to be the office of Harrisons Sabah Sdn Bhd, he said.
The State Tourism, Culture and Environmental Ministry had also allocated RM10 million to repair basic tourism infrastructure in the rural areas to encourage growth in community-based tourism. By 2030, Sabah hoped to achieve the 80 per cent Asean standard compliance target for community-based tourism in the state.
There are at least eight new hotels being built providing an additional 2,248 rooms. Currently, Sabah’s hotel room supply stands at 27,136 rooms.
Out of 691 hotels, 44 hotels with 4,512 rooms were 3-star rated. Another 10 hotels with 3,906 rooms were 5-star rated while 16 hotels with 3,218 rooms were 4-star rated. The Kota Kinabalu Sheraton at Kampung Air-Asia City location 100 metres from one of the Daily Express Sabah Publishing House premises.
More are coming up, including Airbnb commercial suites, between Suria Sabah, its surrounding sea front land 44.52 hectares or 110 acres reclamation development and Pavilion Harbour City, a 30-acre site next to Sabah International Convention Centre (SICC) which is a RM2 billion in gross development value (GDV) joint development by Pavilion Kota Kinabalu Sdn Bhd (under Pavilion Group) and Yayasan Sabah, with a luxury hotel supposedly the Kota Kinabalu Pullman Hotel designed since 2014 by Architect Melvin K.
Then, there is another big project with Yayasan Sabah as the land owner and WCT Perkasa Sdn Bhd to develop CL.265490033, as a mixed tourism and commercial development touted as: “Proposed Reclamation Activities for Mixed Tourism, Commercial and Residential Development on Part of CL.265490033 (53.22 Ha) at Kg. Meruntum, Lok Kawi, Putatan District, Sabah” expected to increase the number of hotels in Sabah, besides the KTS one nearby.
Semporna is expected to see the most increase in resort rooms.
More Tawau’s new hotel rooms are anticipated from ongoing projects including in Semporna town and its new satellite Plaza Semporna with its Eden Suites, which may complete between 2024 and 2027 with off-shore island resorts such as Mussah Boteh Resort and Arcadia Beach Resort, as others are also expanding.
Recently, State Tourism, Culture and Environmental Minister Datuk Christina Liew launched the 202 chalet units for the Borneo Semporna Resort project in Semporna.
She was particularly hopeful that a hotel would materialise that can accommodate tour group tourists in the thousands in the near future.
A large portion of hotel rooms in Sabah, or 81.3 per cent were located in the city or town.
Hotels on the beach-front made up 15.2 per cent of the total rooms share in Sabah like the new Alila Dalit Bay Resort in Tuaran (162 rooms) and the hillside hotels made up 3.5 per cent of it with most located in areas near Mount Kinabalu and Kundasang.
Sabah’s average hotel occupancy rate for the past six months was in excess of 52 per cent on weekdays.
Sabah Tourism Board reported an improvement in the overall average occupancy for the selected budget to 5-star hotels in Kota Kinabalu.
Room sales are still mainly domestic driven while hotels are facing competition from alternative short-term rental accommodations.
Besides Holiday Inn Express, one of the new hotels is the Hyatt Centric Kota Kinabalu, a 222-room hotel by Hyatt Hotels Corporation in collaboration with Hap Seng Consolidated Berhad in what was previously the old Wisma Gek Poh office building. Hap Seng Land Sdn Bhd will build two hotels in Sabah according to Chief Operating Officer David Khor.
The boutique luxury LUMA Hotel is refreshing the Sutera Avenue with 115-room that even the Swedish Ambassador chose to stay in when in the city.
The 64-room boutique Monocolo Hotel is another converted new hotel where the late lawyer Sugumar had his Razz-Ma-Tazz nightspot.
In the planning stage is a project by the Sinyi Group and the InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) to build a RM1 billion five-star 450-room resort along the West Coast served by the Pengalat-Papar bypass and Lok Kawi Road, scheduled to open in 2027.
IHG Hotels & Resorts South East Asia and Korea managing director Rajit Sukumaran said: “This signing continues IHG’s expansion in Luxury & Lifestyle space in East Malaysia and throughout the country.
InterContinental Sabah Kota Kinabalu Resort will be our third hotel in Kota Kinabalu, together with Holiday Inn Express Kota Kinabalu City Centre and the upcoming Crowne Plaza Kota Kinabalu Waterfront.” The Logg’s Avani Hotel being built next to Luyang Health Clinic.
Newly completed Citadines Waterfront Kinabalu is set to grow its business in the CBD here. Other hotels in the pipeline included The Sheraton Kota Kinabalu Hotel, The Crowne Plaza with its 367 rooms, The Avani Hotels & Resorts, with its 378 rooms.
Club Med Borneo Kota Kinabalu, the 400-room beach resort is expected to be completed after 2024, according to its Sabah architect Ar. Ho Jia Lit, who was a PAM past president.
Ar. Ho said he once told his LDP President Datuk Chong Kah Kiat to construct his Mazu statue lying on the ground with the reason stated on a plaque for doing so, and that would also attract tourists to Kudat to see the first “sleeping Mazu” in the world.
The 345 key five-star Sheraton Kota Kinabalu Hotel development with its Kampung Air / Asia City locale 100 metres away from the ex-Daily Express office is being undertaken by Interland Development Sdn Bhd led by Tan Sri Datuk Paul Lim, under the TP Group of Companies who signed a hotel management and franchise agreement with Marriott International for the hotel designed by Ar. Mok and GDP S/B.
Group CEO, Datuk Ir. Peter Chu said, “This is a fruitful strategic partnership cooperation between Interland Development Sdn Bhd and Marriott International which is considered the biggest hotel operator in the world today, as they have put up the biggest networking and hotel chain in every corner and footprint of the world today.
“I am sure this joint venture will bring along sizable tourist attractions and innovative products. I strongly believe that our combined strengths in this development will take the quality of entertainment and many aspects of our tourism products to the next level.
Most important of all, we will build a strong and professional service provider team and cultivate talents together in the area of tourism and hospitality,” said Ir. Chu.
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