KUCHING, Friday – Rainforest World Music Festival (RWMF) has been voted for the 4th consecutive year in 2013, as one of the 25 best International Festivals by renowned world music magazine, Songlines.
Rainforest World Music Festival stands among other renowned festivals like WOMADdelaide Australia and Ulsan World Music Festival, South Korea. According to the editorial team of Songlines the “Selection of the festival is based on the broad representation of the quality and scope of music festivals around the world”
The Festival, now in its 16th year and held annually in Kuching, Sarawak has put Sarawak on the world map. It brings dazzling performances from across the globe attracting more than 20,000 international and local festival-goers to the magical land of Borneo for three days of daytime music workshops and action-packed nightly shows. The event this year will be held from June 28-30.
Sarawak Tourism Board ‘s (STB) CEO Dato Rashid Khan said,” The event has no doubt been a contributor of tourist arrivals to the state and as the organizer of the festival, we are proud to note that our efforts have been recognized for the 4th consecutive year. We are putting together another great act this year and are finalizing the bands”.
For the first time also STB is organizing the Borneo World Music Expo, from June 24 to 26, 2013 in Kuching to position Sarawak as a potential destination for art, culture and music. Dato Rashid reiterated, “The expo is specifically designed to expose Asian and ethnic musicians to the international market and will integrate a trade fair, musical showcases, conferences, exhibitions and networking sessions which would promote the culture and music. It is the ambition of the Board to grow this event into a world recognized annual exposition for the professionals and trade visitors within the international music scene as part of its transformation strategy to climb the value chain from leisure based events to that of business tourism”.
Resulting from the strategic promotional effort, total visitor arrivals to the state have increased 7.2% to 4.07 million tourist arrivals as of 31 December 2012, when compared to the same period last year. Foreign arrivals alone have continued to increase steadily at 12.4% to 2.6 million during the period. By having more events in the State, STB hopes to encourage more tourists to come.
Tickets to the festival can now be bought online. For more information and updates please log on to www.rwmf.net/v2.
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Issued by:
Corporate Communications Unit
SARAWAK TOURISM BOARD
