Don’t overlook medical tourism potential: Justin
Published on: Wednesday, April 24, 2024
By: Mohd Izham Bin Hashim
Justin called for increased efforts to develop healthcare hub to help Sabah benefit from medical tourism.
THE Sabah Government has been urged not to overlook the potential of medical tourism amid efforts to increase tourist arrivals to the state.
“While Sabah’s tourism industry is on the path to recovery, there is a pressing need to diversify tourism products such as medical tourism which proved to be a lucrative sector in neighbouring Sarawak,” said Justin Wong (Warisan-Sri Tanjong).
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He called for increased efforts to develop healthcare hub to help Sabah benefit from medical tourism.
He said tourism promotions should also target visitors from neighbouring Indonesia and Brunei, apart from increasing tourist arrivals from overseas.
“It is time to diversify our tourism products and also attract visitors from neighbouring countries to Sabah,” said Justin (pic).
He said Sarawak received 750,768 foreign visitors mainly from neighbouring Brunei and Indonesia.
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“They have already exceeded their target in the first two months in 2024. One major factor contributing to Miri’s popularity is medical tourism, as it has an abundance of specialist medical centres. It is the closest city to Brunei,” said Justin.
Similarly, he said similar healthcare facilities are available in Kuching.
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Moving forward, Sabah must make serious efforts to upgrade its transportation and logistics sector to benefit from the possible economic spinoff from the relocation of Indonesia’s capital city to Nusantara.
“Sabah’s proximity to Indonesia’s new capital, with Tawau town being the closest, gives it an advantage over neighbouring countries,” said Justin.
He stressed the upgrade of the ferry terminal in Tawau is long overdue and needed to accommodate more passengers and reduce travel time.
“There is a need to seek out investors to develop a modern ferry service to connect Nunukan and Tawau which reduces travel time,” he said.
While most visitors typically arrive in Sabah by air, sea transportation can carry more passengers at lower cost,” said Justin.
He also questioned the State Agriculture Ministry’s MAFI) delay in carrying out the flood mitigation project in Sungai Tawau.
“This project was supposed to resume after the third package of Muara Sungai, but it has been four months with no updates,” said Justin, who noted the project involved four packages to resolve flooding problems in the area.
“Local residents have been suffering from flooding for years. With the rainy season approaching, the problem is likely to persist until the completion of the project,” he said.
Last year, Tawau made national news when severe floods hit the city, affecting several housing areas, many for the first time.
Property, business areas and roads were submerged in water as high as 3-4 metres, forcing the evacuation of residents who had to move their belongings by rescue boats.
“Where is the commitment of the State Government? This project is supposed to resolve the flooding problem,” said Justin.
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