Monday, October 04, 2010

Flower trails to be made Sabah tourism product

KOTA KINABALU: Tourism Malaysia is working with the Sabah Tourism Board (STB) to start developing flower trails in Sabah as the next major tourism product, where exotic orchids here will play a major part.

Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ng Yen Yen said Sabah had the necessary strength with at least 1,200 orchid species flourishing at its rainforests here, while the move was also part of Tourism Malaysia’s efforts to develop recreation parks and nature trails as tourism attractions in the country.

“We are now working on these trails by looking at the directory of trails, trail packages, and other important aspects such as training for specialised flower trail guides.

“So together with the Tourism Ministry’s product development division, we hope to present it to the world at the International Tourism Exhibition in Berlin in March next year,” she told reporters after launching the Orchid Seminar and Workshop here yesterday.

The seminar and workshop was held in conjunction with The Borneo Orchid Show held from Oct 1-5 here.

There is an estimated 1,600 species of orchids in Borneo, where 1,200 of them are found in Sabah, with 860 species in Mount Kinabalu alone.

According to Ng, the flower trails product was one of their strategies to attract high-yield, longer-staying tourists.

Continue reading (Incl. Pic) at: Flower trails to be made Sabah tourism product
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