Sabah Tourism Board Restructured

Sabah Tourism Board (STB) has restructured its top management corporate line-up, in a move to give it more focus in propelling the State tourism industry to greater heights.
Under the new set up, newly appointed general manager Gordon Yapp of Sabah Tourism Board will be assisted by three deputy general managers tasked with specific roles and responsibility. The three deputy general managers are Kevin Chin (Product, Finance & Corporate Services), Noredah Othman (Research & Support Services) and Suzaini Sabdin Ghani (Marketing).

While the first two deputy general managers are promotions, Suzaini’s appointment is new to Sabah Tourism, after having served with the private sector as a hotelier for 26 years.

“The Board believes that the new appointments and promotions will lead to a much more focused effort to drive the industry forward,” said STB chairman Datuk Joniston Bangkuai.
“Air accessibility remains as one of our top priorities and we are pleased with the progress of new flights coming that are widening our accessibility and network around the region,” added Joniston.

“Sabah Tourism Board will be shifting our focus to digital marketing and making use of the many social media platforms to enhance our marketing activities. For example, we have already launched a few campaigns such as Beautiful Sabah 2.0 and the production of short promo videos are presently being done. To work closer with the private sector, a mini lab with the industry will be held,” Gordon said.

As of April this year, arrivals to Sabah registered 1,014,835, or +5.5% increase from the same time last year. The main market registering the growth as of April were China (+55.8% increase), South Korea (+32.4%), Taiwan (+34.8%), Brunei (+5.8%) and Australia (+3.9%).