Sarawak Tourism Board Spotlights Success at fvw TravelTalk Kongress 2025, Germany

London. September 2025 – Sarawak Tourism Board (STB) marked a successful participation at fvw TravelTalk Kongress 2025, one of Germany’s leading travel trade conferences. The event was held in Leipzig on 16th – 17th September 2025. 

As part of its strategy to grow visibility in the European market, STB used the platform to showcase Sarawak as a destination for culture, adventure, and sustainability. 

STB’s activities included operating a branded exhibition booth, delivering a keynote pitch on responsible tourism, and presenting a video that highlighted Sarawak’s natural beauty and cultural diversity to an international audience of top travel trade professionals. 

The event enabled STB to connect with more than 350 travel trade professionals from across Europe, with a particular focus on the German-speaking market. Through targeted business meetings, networking sessions, and media outreach, the team expanded trade partnerships, created valuable media opportunities, and reinforced Sarawak’s reputation for authentic, sustainable, and experience-rich travel. 

Sharzede Datu Haji Salleh Askor, Chief Executive Officer of Sarawak Tourism Board, commented:

STB’s participation at fvw TravelTalk forms part of its wider strategy to raise Sarawak’s profile on the global stage. Alongside its German market focus, the organisation has been stepping up international promotion through a series of high-profile events and initiatives.

Earlier this month, STB successfully took part in CelebrASIA 2025 at London’s Battersea Power Station, a three-day festival celebrating Southeast Asian food, culture, and community. Visitors to the Sarawak stand enjoyed hands-on craft workshops, live performances, and insights into the state’s eco-tourism, outdoor adventures, and cultural experiences. The Sarawak Craft Council also showcased and sold traditional handicrafts, including intricate beadwork and handwoven basketry.

Nestled on the island of Borneo, Sarawak offers a unique blend of jungle thrills, cultural immersion, and unforgettable wildlife encounters. Known as the “Land of the Hornbills,” the destination dazzles with vibrant cultures, ancient traditions, and a rainforest teeming with life. Highlights include Gunung Mulu National Park, home to some of the world’s largest caves and a UNESCO World Heritage treasure; the Niah Caves, which reveal 65,000 years of human history; and Bako National Park, where proboscis monkeys swing through untouched jungle canopies. 

For eco-conscious travellers, Sarawak also offers meaningful ways to engage with local culture and give back while experiencing the extraordinary. Guided jungle treks, homestays with indigenous communities, conservation volunteering programmes, and craft workshops allow visitors to connect with Sarawak’s people and landscapes on a deeper level. 

The Sarawak Delta Geopark (SDGp), covering 3,112km2, is home to diverse Indigenous communities, such as the Iban, Bidayuh, and Malays living in a heterogeneous landscape of urban, agricultural, natural forest, and conservation areas. SDGp was officially endorsed by the National Geopark Committee as a national geopark in June 2022. Kuching, the capital city and chief port of Sarawak nestled right in the Sarawak Delta Kuching was the administrative capital throughout the times of the Brunei sultanate, the White Rajahs of Sarawak, and during the British Colonial rule before Sarawak joined the Malaysian Federation in 1963. The rich history of the city is showcased throughout Kuching, as can be seen through various historical landmarks such as the Old Court House, the Astana, and Fort Margherita, dotted along the city's landscapes, telling tales of long ago that are still being passed down from generation to generation.  

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About Sarawak  

A kaleidoscope of culture, adventure, nature, food and festivals: is the best description for  Sarawak. Sarawak comprises 34 ethnic tribes with their own unique traditions, lifestyles, music and food, while sharing their warm hospitality. Malaysia’s largest state, Sarawak, endowed with some of the oldest rainforests on Earth. Its vast landscape spans over 120,000 sq kms, with towering mountains and cool highlands, jagged limestone formations and mysterious cave systems, winding rivers and quiet beaches; where adventures are waiting to happen. Festivals are hosted throughout the year celebrate the eclectic blend of modern and traditional culture, food, music and religious practices that can be found nowhere else. In Sarawak, there is always ‘More to Discover’.  

Sarawak Tourism Board (STB) is the key promoter for Sarawak and has built a strong track  record of global recognition for its innovative campaigns, destination branding, and commitment to sustainability. In 2025, STB’s “Gateway to Borneo” campaign received the PATA Gold Award for Best Destination Marketing Campaign (Destination Management Organisation – Asia) and the Bronze HSMAI Adrian Award in the Advertising Division. The same year, Sarawak was named Most Promising New Destination at the OTM’s Excellence Awards, while STB earned the One to Watch Award from the International Centre for Responsible Tourism in Southeast Asia (ICRT-SEA) and the Best Performance Award at the 40th Seoul International Travel Fair.  

These accolades followed a strong year in 2024, when STB was named Brand of the Year in Tourism Promotion & Development at The BrandLaureate Brand of the Year Award, received Tourism Board Campaign of the Year – Malaysia at the Travel Daily Media: Travel Trade Excellence Awards, and secured two Malaysia Public Relations Awards (MPRA) for its Sia Sitok campaign, including Campaign of the Year. Additional honours included the Bronze Award at the Putra Aria Brand Awards in the Transportation, Travel & Tourism category and the Special Award for Covid-19 (Sia Sitok Sarawak) at the Sarawak Hornbill Tourism Awards.  

In 2023, STB received the Nation’s Pride Award in Tourism Promotion Excellence at the  Brand Laureate Best Brands Awards, Campaign of the Year at MPRA for its “Comeback  Stronger” Rainforest World Music Festival campaign, and the Best Global PR Campaign Award at the DAVOS World Communications Forum Award. Previous years also saw the PATA Gold Award in 2022 for the Rainforest World Music Festival virtual experience, the Golden City Gate 2019 Five-Star Award, Marketing Excellence Awards 2021 (Excellence in Mobile Marketing – Bronze), and the PATA Gold Award 2022 for its destination video “A Journey Awaits.” The Rainforest World Music Festival and Borneo Jazz Festival Virtual Experiences were additionally recognised in 2021 by the World Responsible Tourism Awards as ‘Ones to Watch’.   

STB’s legacy of excellence stretches back more than a decade: the Rainforest World Music Festival was ranked five consecutive years (2011–2015) among Songlines World Music Magazine’s Top 25 Best International Festivals, while STB itself has received the ASEAN PR Excellence Award 2015 Gold Award and the Asia Pacific Excellence Award 2016 by the Asia-Pacific Association of Communications Directors (APACD).  

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