KOTA KINABALU (The Star): A pilot digital tourism data collection system has been introduced in Kiulu, a big step forward in improving the data of tourist arrivals in rural Sabah.
Assistant Minister of Tourism, Culture, and Environment Datuk Joniston Bangkuai explained that the project will enhance data collection, analysis, and utilization to enable sustainable development of rural tourism.
“Having accurate data is essential in understanding the true landscape of rural and community-based tourism, allowing us to develop more effective strategies,” he said during the launch of the digital data collection application at the Kiulu Tourism Information Centre on Monday (March 17).
Bangkuai, who also chairs the Sabah Tourism Board (STB), emphasized that this initiative aligns with the government’s push to integrate technology into rural tourism, ensuring a more accurate record of visitor trends.
Between January and November 2024, a report from 85 community-based tourism operators in 18 districts recorded 269,154 tourists with an income of over RM6.5 million. However, Bangkuai stated that the figures could be higher since there were gaps in traditional data collection methods.
This digitalization not only fills those gaps but also reveals to us the priority areas that we must invest in and focus on. With more insights into tourist behaviour, we can target our marketing more accurately and improve long-term planning,” continued Bangkuai, who is also a Kiulu assemblyman.
The project is a collaboration between the Sabah Tourism Board (STB) and the Kiulu Tourism Association and was developed by local technology company Datablu.
Kiulu was selected for the pilot project due to its pioneering work in rural and community-based tourism, together with Kadamaian, since 2014.
Datablu director Dharmik Sheth stated that, to his knowledge, this is the first digital app that is specifically designed for data collection of rural tourism.
“Kiulu and Sabah can serve as role models for data-driven tourism development,” he said.
App features range from automatic e-receipt creation to a systematic activity management system that enables tourism operators to run their businesses with greater ease.
Also present at the launch were Sabah Tourism Board CEO Julinus Jeffery Jimit and Kiulu Tourism Association President Mejin Maginggow.
