Sabah is one of the top five places in the country for commercial investment or development. According to Knight Frank's Malaysia Commercial Real Estate Investment Survey 2017, Sabah and Penang were voted as the highly-attractive regions for hotel/leisure investment, likely attributed to their strong tourism market.

In Kota Kinabalu, Sabah Deputy Chief Minister cum Industrial Development Minister Datuk Raymond Tan Shu Kiah told New Sabah Times Sabah has the biggest potentials for investment.

Sabah, he said, has copious natural resources, and that the state government was now working on improving infrastructures including the ports, utilities as well as producing skilled workers.

Tan said these were important ‘ingredients' to attract investment and that development of human capital was currently being given priority.

Managing director Sarkunan Subramaniam stated that more respondents were looking forward to diversifying investments to popular regions like Sabah, Johor and Penang.

"Despite the challenging operating environment, the respondents have expressed their interest in exploring investment opportunities in various regions. Sabah and Penang were voted as the highly attractive regions for hotel/leisure investment, likely attributed to their strong tourism market," he said.