March 12, 2010 at 9:20 am
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Sabah’s exotic orchids are poised to bloom at the Chelsea Flower Show, dubbed the world’s most famous flower show, in May.
This is in line with Tourism Malaysia’s initiative to focus and promote orchids as the state tourism’s niche product.
Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ng Yen Yen said the ministry would invite orchid specialist Anthony Lamb to the show in London to talk on the many varieties of orchids unique to Sabah.
Lamb is a British botanist who has spent more than 30 years studying the flora of Borneo. He arrived in Sabah in 1962 and set up the Tenom Orchid Centre as a Sabah Government conservation project in 1981.
He is co-author of Rhododendrons of Sabah (1988) and Pitcher Plants of Borneo (1996), and a coordinator and co-author of the popular Orchids of Borneo series.
Sabah Tourism Board chairman Tengku Datuk Dr Zainal Adlin said Borneo was known as the ‘Orchid Island of the World’. More than half of the orchid species are found in Mount Kinabalu.
He said Mount Kinabalu was believed to house over 1,200 species of orchids, with about 800 species identified so far, through taxonomy studies.
“Tourism Ministry will work closely with Sabah to develop this very unique niche product of Mt Kinabalu and its exotic orchids.”
Earlier, Dr Ng held a meeting with state tourism, culture and environment minister Datuk Masidi Manjun and was briefed on tourism development projects in Sabah.
On another note, she expressed confidence that all tourism development projects under the Ninth Malaysia Plan (9MP), where RM62 million was allocated for Sabah, would be completed by year-end.
Source: Bernama