Here is the Asian Bird Fair 2023 overview of the on-ground event, which was held at the Sabah International Convention Centre in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah Borneo, from 13-16 October. From eyes on the ground here, the event was successful as it provided both birders and consumers with a better understanding of what avian tourism is all about.
Birdwatching may sound odd to those who do not know, but when you have that little extra knowledge, you will see that it is no different from golf tourism or scuba diving. All these sports or hobbies take you places, and birding is no different; you just need a pair of binoculars or a decent camera with a telephoto lens.
Asian Bird Fair 2023 Overview
This year’s theme was simple and concise, titled ‘Birds and Children: Hand in Hand’. As this was the third time the ABF had been held here in Malaysia, the decision was right that Sabah was the host state because of the massive demand for birding and photography in this part of the globe.
While most new birders only know about going to a location and spotting or photographing birds, the game of birdwatching has long been around, and it was only after the COVID-19 pandemic that people suddenly became overnight birders and photographers.
When speaking to several birders from around Peninsular Malaysia in recent years, most of the newer birders only knew about birding trips planned by friends of the bird societies, and surprisingly, a large number of people had not heard about the Asian Bird Fair or any other birding festival for the matter.
The Asian Bird Fair has been running for 12 years now, moving from country to country, providing birders and photographers an avenue to discover, learn and understand what else is going on in and around the birding world. But it saddened me to say that most people depend on Facebook for any kind of birding information.
As this event is called a bird fair, you can expect it to be like a trade fair. For the benefit of the Malaysians, think of the ABF as a Birding Matta Fair, or for others, imagine attending a travel fair like ITB, but it’s only for birding vendors. So, this is what the Asian Bird Fair is all about.
It’s usually held in a convention centre, where a vendor section of booths is set up and in another section, a staging area for multiple purposes like official opening, talks by reknown speakers locally and internationally, contests and so on.
ABF2023 in Kota Kinabalu Sabah
The choice of Kota Kinabalu as the main venue is very interesting because the fact that Sabah remains the undisputed number one place in all of Malaysia for birding was a huge plus point. Some of the delegates came to Sabah much earlier to experience birding around Kota Kinabalu, and even we at Birdwatching Asia did that, too.
The choice of the venue was also excellent as the convention centre is new and just minutes away from the main KK city centre. This provided ease of movement for visitors coming to the bird fair here. Locals who drove only had to pay a flat rate parking of RM3 for the entire day.
On day one of the event, delegates and participants were issued sustainable tags made out of corrugated cardboard but into tag sizes and clipped with a lanyard. The cut pieces were then chopped with the event information, and the person wearing it would fill in their name on it. This was clever!
Walking into the Asian Bird Fair 2023, the first thing you see is the 50 vendor booths that line sections of the function hall, and Tourism Malaysia was the main booth as you entered. Overall, there was an exciting mix of vendors and exhibitors selected for this fair. Some from as far as South America!
Visitors had an easy time walking from section to section of the bird fair as vendor placements were carefully thought of by the organisers. After browsing through the vendor section of the fair, the main stage area with seating arrangements is where the launch and talks were held.
The opening ceremony on the first day was officiated by Yang Berusaha Mr Murad bin Abd Rashid, Senior Principal Assistant Secretary to the Ministry of Tourism, Culture & Environment Sabah and VIPs included Madam Josephine Chai, Senior Marketing Manager of Sabah Tourism Board, who was representing Puan Noredah Othman, the CEO of Sabah Tourism Board.
After the official launching, Mr Murad and other VIPs were taken around the exhibition floor on a walkabout to visit the vendors. Later in the afternoon, a surprise visit by Datuk Christina Liew, Minister of Tourism, Culture and Environment Sabah, got everyone excited, and another walkabout was conducted along with a photo session.
The fair saw mostly curious locals who wanted to know more about what birdwatching was all about. Not forgetting, in the centre of the event hall, the kids’ area was set up, where face painting, colouring contests and many other activities were.
One of the things that really impressed me was the keynote speaker, Noah Strycker, the birding celebrity from back in 2015 who travelled the world in one big year to see a minimum of 6,000 birds! Wow, that was indeed an amazing achievement, and having him talk about it on stage was truly a talk to remember.
He also mentioned that he had some of his books for sale after his talk, and guess what? An hour after his talk, the books had sold out, and I was fortunate to be one of the lucky buyers who got a personalised signed copy from him.
The main sponsor for the event was no other than camera brand Sony, who had also lined up some of their photography ambassadors as speakers and workshop conductors for the two days. Other brands, including Canon and Optisan Optics, also participated in the booths.
Overall, the balance between talks, forums and workshops at the event was well-paced for everyone without overdoing it. Some forums were so interesting that they made the mainstream headlines the following days.
The second-day forum titled “What can we do to ensure we do not lose another species to extinction?” caught the attention of some reporters and appeared in The Star newspaper and the Borneo Post, where members of the Asian Bird Fair (ABF) have called on the Sabah government to reconsider the Pan Borneo Highway passing through Tawai Forest Reserve in Telupid district.
I would say this was a massive win for the event as, usually, events like these do not really impact the mainstream media. Kudos on the topic, as it was hotly debated during the forum on the second day of the fair.
What Did You Miss?
For those who did not manage to attend the Asian Bird Fair, there is still ABF2024 in the Philippines and many more to come. Overall, you missed a large get-together of like-minded birders from around the world, sharing knowledge and wisdom with one another.
For those in the birding business, it was all about sales, as it was more about networking at fairs like this. In Asia, the general consensus of fairs means sales. However, this was not the point. Speaking to several of the vendors and speakers, they had wanted to visit this part of the world to learn and understand more about the birdwatching culture here.
Birding is not just about taking photographs of birds, over-editing them, and then posting them on Facebook. It is much more than that where we understand and learn from one another, from different countries in different regions.
Overall, an estimated 2,000 visitors visited the ABF2023 in two days; many were curious about the bird fair, while others knew about it and wanted to learn more about this unique birding fair here in Sabah.
Sponsors for the ABF 2023
As there were multiple people involved in this bird fair, a huge thanks goes out to the Sabah Tourism Board, who was the main supporter and Sony Malaysia as the main camera sponsor. Other sponsors that made this event happen are Place Borneo Sdn Bhd, Amptitude PLT, ibis Styles Kota Kinabalu, Sony Malaysia, Bird Watching Asia, Shangri La Rasa Ria, Optisan Optic, Sticky Rice Travel, and Life Water Industries Sdn Bhd.
About the Asian Bird Fair
The Asian Bird Fair (ABF) is an annual birding event created by three passionate birdwatchers, Michael Lu (Philippines), Victor Yu (Taiwan) and Andrew Sebastian (Malaysia), to highlight the different bird fairs in Asia, to promote the protection of birds and their habitats, encourage birdwatching and other ecotourism activities.
For more information, please visit the official Asian Bird Fair Website.
Conclusion
Previously, the ABF was held in Langkawi in 2014 and again in Kuching, Sarawak, in 2019. This year’s event is the third time the prestigious bird fair has been held here in Malaysia, Southeast Asia.
The 12th Asian Bird Fair 2023 event was organised by the Asian Bird Fair and the Sabah Birdwatchers Association, with Birdwatching Asia being the official media. Next year, Las Pinas in the Philippines will be awarded as the next host and venue; therefore, stay tuned for updates.
For Birdwatching Asia, it has been a pleasure to work with the organisers and meet the many vendors, speakers and birders from Sabah and around the world. We hope to continue to provide our readers with up-to-date information on future birding fairs and events. Thank you for reading our Asian Bird Fair 2023 overview.
