Sarawak would hit its target of 1.2 million visitors by the year-end due to the number of events and festivals scheduled to be held in the state, said Sarawak Minister of Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Arts, Datuk Seri Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah.

He said that based on the latest statistics of visitor arrivals in the state, the number had surged by 680 per cent to 439,150 in the first five months of this year compared to the same period last year, with more visitors expected to enter Sarawak for the remaining months of 2022.

“With this trend, we should be able to achieve the target (1.2 million visitors) because every month, we have something going on like the international marathons, Kuching Waterfront Jazz Festival and What About Kuching 2022 (WAK).

“Furthermore, by August 1, the borders of Brunei will be opened and we expect at least 4,000 people per week coming in from Brunei,” he said at a press conference after the WAK 2022 Call For Proposal event, here, yesterday.

Abdul Karim said the number of foreigners had also spiked by 376 per cent to 43,404 between January and May this year, compared to the same period in 2021.

According to the Domestic Tourism Survey 2021 report released by the Department of Statistics Malaysia yesterday, Sarawak received 6.5 million domestic visitors last year, making it one of the most visited states in Malaysia.

Meanwhile, Abdul Karim said after two years of the Covid-19 pandemic, WAK 2022 would finally be held from October 1 to 31 with the tagline, “By The Community For The Community”, to celebrate the arts, culture and lifestyles of the creative community.

WAK founder Donald Tan reminded those interested to join the WAK 2022 creativity proposals that they have until July 31 to submit their thoughts by logging on to http://www.aboutkuching.com.