Liew (fifth left) with Rosmawati (on her left) and staff of the Tourism, Culture and Environment Ministry.
KOTA KINABALU: The exceptional success of the SICC Ramadhan Buffet 2025 serving 850 Asian Continental dishes has prompted Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Seri Christina Liew to call on tourism stakeholders to explore and develop the potentiality of food tourism in Sabah.
She noted that the extraordinary activity was a crowd-puller with an average of 1,650 local and international diners every night throughout the fasting month.
She said food tourism is yet another growing dimension of Sabah’s booming tourism industry, given its reputation as a food paradise, other than being renowned for its nature, adventure, diving and wildlife tourism.
“We can also make Sabah a destination for food tourism. I believe food tourism packages will attract more tourists to the state which is already a popular travel destination, especially those who are in quest of a unique culinary experience,” said Liew after partaking of the Ramadhan Buffet at the Sabah International Convention Centre (SICC) on Thursday night.
The month-long buffet featuring local, international as well as Menu DiRaja (that is, menus served at the Istana) lasts until today (March 29).
The Minister said the food tourism industry will create more jobs and boost the local economy by triggering the need to increase agricultural production (with emphasis on food production) and reinvigorate the food supply chain.
“Sabah is a potpourri of different cultures. SICC is able to create 850 menus daily by virtue of our ethnic and cultural diversity. On top of it, we have a team of culinary experts,” said the CEO of SICC Datuk Dr Hajah Rosmawati Lasuki, when met at the venue.
In fact, SICC with its “Taste of The World” Ramadhan Dinner Buffet offering 850 menus had made its way into the Asia Book of Records last year for “Maximum Dishes Prepared of International Cuisines”.
