Monday, March 21, 2005

Sarawak Hopes To Attract More Singaporean Through SilkAir


SIBU, March 21 (Bernama) -- Sarawak is projecting at least a 34 per cent increase in tourist arrivals from Singapore this year through SilkAir.

Its Tourism Minister, Datuk Sri Wong Soon Koh, said that based on last year's statistics, some 41,000 strictly Singaporeans visited the state.

"This year, we are looking at a figure of about 60,000 or more as the inaugural SilkAir package will be launched in Singapore on March 28," he told a news conference, here Monday.

Wong said that at present there was only one flight weekly by MAS on the Singapore-Kuching sector but with SilkAir, there would be four flights.

He said that besides Singaporeans who love extreme activities like caving, mountain climbing and jungle trekking, the state also hoped to attract some of the eight million foreign tourists who visited the republic yearly.

The Sarawak Tourism Board would work closely with its Singapore counterpart to promote the state, he said.

Elaborating on the operations of SilkAir, he said its $S199 package would include a two-night accommodation at a three-star hotel and airport transfers for its Singapore-Kuching-Singapore route.

On another matter, Wong said that the "Discover Sarawak Holiday" packages would be relaunched in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday.

He said that this was aimed at attracting more people from other states in the country and visiting foreign tourists there to come to Sarawak.

Wong said that for a minimum of RM435, they could fly to Kuching with accommodation, airport transfers, breakfast and a city tour provided before returning home.

He said that the packages would include tours to other main towns like Sibu and Miri.

He said that last year, some 14,000 people visited the state under such packages.

Source: Bernama

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

What is the number of tourists from Peninsula Malysia to Sarawak in 1990 and 2004?