Date: 17 December
2012
Local fruit festivals can be tourist attraction — Dawos.
KUCHING: Local fruit festivals should be held more
frequently in Sarawak as they have the potential to be a tourist attraction,
said Deputy Tourism Minister Datuk Dr James Dawos Mamit yesterday.
He reasoned that tourists would be drawn to the state to
participate in the festivals as tropical fruits, particularly durian, were
getting popular in many countries such as China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan and the
European continent.
“The ‘Pesta Buah-buahan’ (fruits festival) @ Kota Padawan’
is being held for the first time here. Actually, such festival is very common
in the peninsula. I see the need to have a similar festival in Sarawak I want
to promote local fruits to tourists so that they would come during the fruit
season. For instance, the festival held today (yesterday) will benefit not only
the Mambong parliamentary constituency but the whole of Kuching,” he told
reporters when met at the event held at the parking lot of Kota Padawan near
here.
He added that such festivals would allow foreign tourists to
have a real taste of Malaysian fruits since most of the tropical fruits sold in
some foreign countries were mainly imported from Thailand. Taking durian as an
example, Dawos said Malaysian durians had different and unique tastes compared
to those from Thailand’s which were sweet.
The ‘Pesta Buah-buahan’ (fruits festival) @ Kota Padawan’
was jointly organised by Padawan Municipal Council and Mambong BN Youth Wing.
It attracted hundreds of local folks. About 500 kg of local fruits such as
durian, rambutan, mangosteen and langsat were snapped up within an hour.
By Lee Ya Yun, reporters@theborneopost.com
Copyright @ 2010-2012 BorneoPost Online
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