KOTA KINABALU: The Federal Government should also assist rural tourism operators in Sabah, says Rural Tourism Association Sabah (Fertas) president Walter Kandayon.

       “Fertas is quite surprised that the special aid is only meant for tourism operators registered with the Tourism, Arts and Culture Ministry,” he said in a statement on Saturday (May 7).

       Kandayon said that rural tourism operators need the assistance of the government as they have not been able to operate in a consistent manner for more than two years.

       More than 20,000 tourism operators were given the chance to apply for the RM85 million financial aid from the Ministry, initially from Feb 28 to Mar 15.

       It subsequently allowed operators who missed the initial application period to make fresh applications from April 4 to 15.

       Towards this end, Kandayon said Fertas has recently paid a courtesy visit to the Ministry's Kota Kinabalu director, Ibrahim Othman.

       Kandayon said that Ibrahim agreed that the rural tourism industry plays a vital role in Sabah due to many tourism sites being in rural areas.

       He added that he briefed Ibrahim on the efforts to develop rural tourism since 2014, with the Sabah Tourism Board (STB) pioneering such efforts.

       He said that the STB has consistently given encouragement to Sabah rural tourism operators by offering help to develop tourism facilities.

       “After only a few years, rural tourism has grown tremendously where several community-based tourism sites in Kota Belud received recognition at the Asean level in 2019," said Kandayon

       “Other states are looking at rural tourism in Sabah as a reference point now,” he added.