KOTA KINABALU: State Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Christine Liew has praised a tourism village in Kadamian, Kota Belud, for introducing community-based cleanliness enforcement.
Since the middle of last year, anyone found throwing rubbish indiscriminately at Kampung Pinolobu is fined RM100.
The enforcement is carried out with the agreement of villagers and led by the village chief.
“Obviously, I have to say the power to impose penalties is with the local authority, but the initiative taken by local players is very good. You do not want tourists to come and see rubbish,” said Liew at the Asean Tourism and Homestay Awards at the ministry, here, today.
“Having said that, I encourage homestay operators or the community to discuss with their local authority about imposing a penalty.
“Sometimes it takes a friendly discussion to achieve that.
“Operators also need to put up signage to warn the public against throwing rubbish indiscriminately, as that can serve as a deterrent.”
Kadamaian Tourism Association (Kata) president Walter Duis Kandayon said the association wanted to expand it to other villages.
“Of course, a few people have been fined. Most do not dare to throw rubbish or even cigarette butts, especially in tourist areas.
“There is also an area designated for people to smoke.
“We see Kampung Pinolobu as a pilot project for such enforcement and we are looking into establishing a special committee to study how best we can expand this to other villages in Kadamaian,” he said, adding that there were 74 villages in the constituency.
“It was discussed a year prior to its implementation and throughout the year, the community carried out a cleanliness awareness programme.
“For the special committee plan, we are looking into engaging the police, district council, native court, and village chiefs.”
Kandayon said the collected fines would go to the village’s conservation fund.
He said Kata hoped that Kadamaian would be transformed into a world-class rural tourism destination with top-class cleanliness by 2025.
Moving on to another topic, Liew said Chinese tourists were expected to increase by 20 per cent this year.
She said Chinese tourists were getting more interested in forest tourism and encouraged operators to explore it.
During the press conference, Liew announced the names of recipients from Sabah who had received tourism recognition awards at the Asean Tourism Ministers’ Conference in Hanoi, Vietnam, on Jan 18.
Kata received the Asean Community Based Tourism Standard 2019-2021, Misompuru Homestay received the Asean Homestay Standard 2019-2021 and Jari-Jari Spa received the Asean Spa Services Standard 2019-2021.
Meanwhile, at the World Homestay Organisation Summit for Tourism in Temerloh, Pahang, on Jan 27, Misompuru Homestay, Seri Serbang Homestay and Mesilou Atamis Homestay received the Million Achievement 2018/2019 award.
Tanak Nabalu Homestay won the Best Tour Packages Highland Eco 2018/2019 award, Walai Tokou Homestay won the Million Potential 2018/2019 award and Taun Gusi Village Homestay won the Best Media Creativity Eco and Culture 2018/2019 award.