Malaysia Airlines Bhd Sponsors Sarawak Music Festivals this Year

13th Apr 2016

National carrier of Malaysia, Malaysia Airlines Berhad (MAB) will be sponsoring flight tickets for performers of this year’s Borneo Jazz and Rainforest World Music festivals.

The carrier has penned a two-year deal with the Sarawak Tourism Board on Tuesday, thus continuing its partnership with the board. This way, MAB and the Sarawak Tourism Board have entered their fourth year of collaboration, which continues in this and the next year as well.

Chief commercial officer at Malaysia Airlines Paul Simmons said the deal with tourism board of Sarawak made a lot of sense from a financial point of view. He also said this will drive traffic to Kuching and Miri, making it a “true win-win situation”.

MAB Sponsors Borneo Jazz Festival and Rainforest World Music Festival

Miri and Kuching are also the destinations where the two festivals – Borneo Jazz Festival (Miri) and the Rainforest World Music Festival (Kuching) - will be held on 13^th and 14^th May and between 5^th and 7^th August. The festivals in Miri will be held at the Park City Everly Hotel, while the one in Kuching will be held at the Sarawak Cultural Village.

After signing the renewal of sponsorship with Sarawak Tourism Board, Simmons said:

We are delighted to renew the sponsorship for this world class event. WE have complete confidence in both of these events as well as the Sarawak state… It’s a really good initiative going forward.

MAB this year also sponsored other events, such as the World Table Tennis Championship in Kuala Lumpur between 28^th February and 6^th March; World Youth Jazz Festival, which was held on 4^th April and will sponsor the Skate Asia 2016 competition between 7^th and 14^th August.

Ask whether the fact that Malaysia Airlines is trying to cut down its expenses has any impact on it sponsoring these or some other events, Simmons said the company is now more “prudent” with the way it spends money and only does so when it is certain something is a smart investment. Also, according to the head of marketing at MAB Charles McKee, MAB has allocated a “sensible amount” of cash for sponsoring these events.