Despite Sabah recording RM5.62 billion in tourism revenue in the first nine months of 2024, Kota Kinabalu Warisan information chief Samuel Wong questioned if the reported growth had benefited foreign industry players more than Sabahans.

Wong pointed out that there were numerous foreign-owned tour agencies, hotels, restaurants, and tour guide services in the state.

“Despite the large tourist arrival numbers and revenue, we must ask ourselves, has this truly impacted the lives of local Sabahans? Have the local tourism players, especially the bona fide ones, truly benefited from this?” he said in a statement.

Yesterday, Liew told the state assembly that Sabah recorded RM5.62 billion in tourism revenue from January to September, as well as 2.41 million international and domestic tourists, a 28.3% increase from the same period last year.

She attributed this to the higher number of flights to Sabah, saying 98% of tourist arrivals were through air travel.

Wong said there were many cheap Sabah tour packages being marketed aggressively by foreign-backed agencies on Chinese language platforms like Xiaohongshu, Taobao, CTrip, and Fliggy.

He said this was unfair to local agencies and questioned whether the state tourism ministry had any plans to regulate prices to ensure fair competition.

“Are there regular checks on illegal vans, Grab drivers and even Airbnb hosts offering unregulated tour services? These practices not only harm local operators but also compromise the integrity of Sabah’s tourism industry,” he said.