Abdul Karim (centre) places his hand on the button for the symbolic launch. Witnessing are Hii (third left), Sharzede (second right), Amelia (third right) and others. – Photo from BESarawak
KUCHING (Aug 12): Sarawak has become the first Malaysian state to join the Global Destination Sustainability Index (GDS-Index) for Business Events and Tourism following the launch of the GDSI Partnership Programme-Sarawak Region (GDSI-Sarawak Partner) yesterday.
State Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah said the Index’s underlying value will benefit Sarawak at large.
“It will support every industry in Sarawak to adopt best practices of sustainability.
“A proven and trusted system such as this will give us the necessary information and tools to help us make better decisions, improve business strategies, foster collaboration and innovation, promote Sarawak on a higher scale that is lucrative in today’s world thus, making our state a place we all want to live in,” he said when officiating the launch, in a statement issued by Business Events Sarawak (BESarawak).
Abdul Karim, who is also GDSI-Sarawak Partner’s patron, said the move towards a sustainable future will drive Sarawak’s visibility and branding around the world.
“It will give us the power to create strong destination stories and position Sarawak as a potential role model for other second tier destinations to implement a similar action.”
Meanwhile, BESarawak in the statement explained that the GDS-Index is a globally recognised benchmarking system that will rank Sarawak’s business events and tourism sustainability performance.
The assessment will be based on 71 indicators across four key areas – environmental performance, social progress performance, destination supplier performance, and destination management performance.
The Index is fully aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) Destination Criteria which is part and parcel of Sarawak’s Post-Covid-19 Development Strategy (PCDS) for Tourism to make the state a leading destination for ecotourism and sustainable business events by 2030.
To kickstart the Index, Kuching City has been selected as the pilot project which positions Kuching as one of the 75 progressive destinations in the world to undertake the GDS-Index.
Upon successful completion and understanding, the assessment will expand to Sibu, Miri, and other major towns in the state in the future.
To date, GDSI-Sarawak Partner is in the process of data consolidation and the result of Kuching’s performance is expected to be released by October.
Steering the assessments are Sarawak’s 30 committee members under the GDSI-Sarawak Partner, to lead the state’s sustainable future through data consolidation, stakeholder engagements and communication.
The main committee is chaired by Ministry of Tourism, Arts, and Culture permanent secretary Hii Chang Kee, with the respective chief executive officers of BESarawak and Sarawak Tourism Board (STB) as task leaders.
Other key players in the partnership programme include the Local Government and Housing Ministry; Urban Development and Natural Resources Ministry; Kuching North City Commission, and Kuching South City Council.
Also present at yesterday’s launch were Hii, STB CEO Sharzede Salleh Askor and BESarawak CEO Amelia Roziman.