Thumbs up from the Sabah delegation led by Liew (seated, middle). Flanking her are Francisco (on her right) and Assistant Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister and STB Chairman Datuk Joniston Bangkuai.
BUDAPEST: Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Christina Liew expressed optimism that Sabah Tourism Board’s (STB) Tourism Promotion Mission to Hungary will bear fruit in luring more Hungarians to Sabah.
She said this at a dinner hosted by Malaysia’s Ambassador to Hungary Francisco Munis and his wife Patricia Linus Lojiu for the STB Tourism Promotion Mission to Hungary at Rumah Malaysia Budapest here Sunday.
Liew led the delegation.
Francisco said as a Sabahan, he was very proud to receive a delegation from Sabah, especially from the STB.
“All the top guns are here – Minister Datuk Christina, Assistant Minister Datuk Joniston Bangkuai, Permanent Secretary Josie Lai Mei Sing, Chief Executive Officer of STB Julinus Jeffery Jimit, and Chairman of Sri Pelancongan Sabah Ken Pan Ying On,” said Francisco who hails from Papar.
The Ambassador said it is the right thing for the STB to come and talk to the Association of Hungarian Travel Agencies (Outbound Travel).
“We have 31 local travel agents here. That is a very big number in this place. These are the people who will go out there and ‘sell’ Sabah’s tourism products,” he said, adding that STB’s product presentation will be an eye-opener for Hungary’s travel agents.
Over dinner, Liew and Francisco discussed the possibility of collaboration between her Ministry through STB and the Hungarian Tourism Agency in the areas of cultural exchange, rural tourism and sports tourism.
“We are looking at some form of collaborative understanding for the shared objective of promoting Sabah in Hungary,” they said.
The Minister concurred with the Ambassador on the need to forge collaboration between the Federation of Rural Tourism Association Sabah (FeRTAS) and the National Federation of Rural Tourism, Budapest.
