KOTA KINABALU: Sabah’s tourism recovery efforts are showing signs of success, with a growing number of direct international and domestic flights into the state.
Sabah Tourism, Culture, and Environment Assistant Minister Datuk Joniston Bangkuai said while domestic connectivity was back in full swing, international connectivity was also making great strides towards making Sabah accessible within South-East Asia.
“I am pleased that our domestic connection is expanding with a total of 389 weekly flights now since the interstate travel ban was lifted and the international border reopened in April,” he said, adding that there used to be 445 weekly flights before the pandemic.
“To date, Sabah has welcomed five direct international flights. We will receive two more direct flights from Incheon, South Korea, to Kota Kinabalu next week,” said Joniston.He said Sabah was also expecting direct flights for the Bangkok-Kota Kinabalu route to resume.
“This is indeed an extremely positive scene for Sabah’s tourism industry,” he said at the launch of Bazaar MATTA 2022 at Sunway Velocity Mall in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.
Also present at the event were Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents (MATTA) president Datuk Tan Kok Liang, Tourism Malaysia senior director of domestic and events Iskandar Mirza Mohd Yusof and Sabah Tourism Board chief marketing officer Tay Shu Lan.
The airlines operating direct flights to Kota Kinabalu are AirAsia (via Manila and Singapore), Scoot (via Singapore), Royal Brunei Airlines (via Brunei) and Jin Air (via Incheon).For domestic travel, Kota Kinabalu has direct flights from Kota Baru, Kuala Terengganu, Penang, Johor Baru and Kuala Lumpur. Both Sandakan and Tawau are also easily accessible from Kuala Lumpur.
There has also been progressive growth in the number of domestic and foreign visitors to Sabah, with preliminary figures showing an estimated 408,530 arrivals between January and April this year.
Compiled by the Sabah Tourism Board, the overall figure includes 392,968 domestic tourists and 15,562 international visitors.
“This estimate represents a 412% increase over the same period last year. This is already a promising indicator of people’s desire to return to Sabah to travel and discover new places,” said Joniston, who also chairs the Sabah Tourism Board.
He commended MATTA for hosting the Bazaar MATTA event, particularly for spotlighting Sabah and bringing it to the fore.
“Even though Bazaar MATTA is a smaller travel fair in comparison to the usual MATTA fair, the fact that 30 Sabah-based travel agents are taking part this weekend is a good sign that it is just as important,” he said, adding that Sabah packages were in high demand at recent travel exhibitions.
“On that note, the Sabah Tourism Board encourages potential visitors to always use licensed travel agents to ensure safety.”
Sabah will promote a wide range of domestic travel and tourism packages with attractive prizes to be won, including flight tickets to Kota Kinabalu, Tawau and Sandakan at the two-day Bazaar MATTA.
Visitors are also entitled to a RM100 Boost voucher that can be utilised among several participating agents.
Tan said the bazaar was MATTA’s pilot project, adding that they would highlight other states by bringing in respective travel agents to help boost domestic travel.
“We are highlighting Sabah first because tourism is one of its key sectors,” he added.
