Malaysia’s state of Sabah wishes to see that foreign and domestic investors in the state will give priority to locals for employment. Chief Minster, Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor said that with economic activities including tourism reviving in the state, the promise of returns and profit making were almost guaranteed. However, he wished to also see that apart from monetary returns for these investors, their success also had to be measured in jobs created for Sabahans. “And the key to this is that investments we bring in are measured in the motivating effect on other local enterprises besides seeing that their impact will ripple through the local communities,” he said.
Datuk Seri Hajiji said Sabah welcomed 857,675 visitors as of July this year representing an increase of 632 per cent compared with the same period last year with an estimated RM1.4bil in tourism receipts. He said the increase was driven by the domestic tourism sector which contributed a total of 785,123 visitors, an increase of 582 per cent from the same period in 2021. He added that in light of this development, Sabah was optimistic of receiving more than a million visitors this year.
