According to Datuk Christina Liew the incident involving a freelance divemaster kissing a visitor damages Sabah's tourism industry's reputation as it begins to recover from the pandemic.

"Incidents like this greatly affect the image of tourism in the Semporna district in particular, and Sabah in general, even more so as the tourism industry is recovering from the Covid-19 pandemic," the state's tourism, culture, and environment minister stated in a statement on Monday, May 8.

Liew called it a "regrettable" incident and urged everyone involved in the tourism sector to take responsibility for preserving the sector's reputation.

I urge each travel agency in this state to contribute to providing top-notch service.

She emphasized that they needed to take responsibility for preventing similar occurrences in the future.

However, Liew pointed out that the occurrence took place outside of the Sabah Parks-managed territory of Tun Sakaran Marine Park and Sipadan Island Park.

Liew was responding to a police report filed by a Chinese tourist, 24, who said that a local divemaster, 27, kissed her on the cheek while they were underwater on May 5.

The following day, before departing for China, she filed a complaint regarding the incident. The man was detained on May 7 and held without bail until May 11.