TAWAU: Sabah Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Jafry Ariffin has encouraged the Tawau Municipal Council to develop the district's food products for gastronomic tourism opportunities.
The east coast town is famous for its status as a food paradise.
"We want to attract tourists to Tawau to enjoy the variety of foods in the district," he said during a working visit to the Tawau Municipal Council here yesterday.
He said the various ethnicities of the Tawau community have their own distinct food flavours.
For example, he said the Bugis community are well known for their various customs and traditions, including their unique traditional foods such as burasak, barobok, numero and many more.
Jafry is confident that efforts to attract tourists to enjoy the delicacies in Tawau can be an added value to tourism products in the district.
He said community-based tourism products and activities should also be further developed given Tawau's rich natural biodiversity.
Batu Bersusun and the Tinagat Lighthouse are some of the interesting places that can be promoted as they are currently upgrading the infrastructure facilities, he said.
"With the diversity of tourism products, Tawau is definitely not only a stopover for tourists because we want to turn this district into a tourist destination," said Jafry
The minister also held an engagement session with tour operators in Tawau to find out their problems and discuss the direction of community -based tourism.
Also present were Sabah Tourism, Culture and Environment Ministry permanent secretary of Datuk Mohd Yusrie Abdullah, Tawau Municipal Council president Joseph Pang Pick Lim and government officials.