Sabah wants to revive the tourist and cultural ties it had with the Chinese city of Xi'an, which had been halted by Covid-19 pandemic travel restrictions. Xi'an is the capital of the Shaanxi province in central China.

Datuk Christina Liew, the state minister for tourism, culture, and the environment, travelled to Xi'an to restart the 2019 memorandum of understanding between Kota Kinabalu and Xi'an.

"The aim is to reconnect and strengthen the government-to-government relationship between the two cities. Our visit to Xi'an is to rekindle bilateral tourism cooperation and cultural exchange," Liew said in a statement on Wednesday (July 5) after meeting with Xi'an Vice Mayor Meng Hao.

She said their discussion also touched on Xi'an's potential trade and investment exhibition in Sabah under the newly-established Sabah Convention Bureau (SCB).

The Xi'an municipal government leader also agreed to lead a delegation to visit Sabah to further discuss the enhancement of the bilateral relationship.

At the meeting with the Vice Mayor, both parties agreed to set up a joint committee between Sabah Tourism Board and tourism agencies to boost and speed up tourism activities.

"This initiative will further facilitate the exchange of ideas, information and expertise, among others, in efforts to uplift the tourism industry," Liew said.

Meng, meanwhile, called for efforts to forge tourism cooperation by coordinating with the Sabah government to promote both cities.

"Sabah has the best diving spots, beautiful islands and tropical rainforests. Both areas complement each other in terms of tourism resources," he said.