MIRI: Starting its flight bookings seven weeks ahead of schedule, newly-formed airline Fly Asian Xpress (FAX) has helped Sarawak earn more than RM30mil in tourism revenue.
Of the 18,000-plus tourists who had served notice that they might have to cancel their confirmed tours to Mulu National Park because of teething flight arrangement complications last month, only about 400 actually cancelled their bookings.
The rest have seemingly maintained their tours to Mulu and are in the process of arranging with travel agents here and their agents abroad to get confirmed tickets to this world heritage site, said Sarawak Tourism Board (STB) chief executive officer Gracie Geikie yesterday.
If each of these tourists spend the projected RM1,800 per person in Malaysia as calculated based on previous tourism statistics, it would mean that some RM31.5mil would be brought into the state.
“The tourism industry players in Sarawak are very grateful to FAX and AirAsia for their very proactive and swift response to our plight,” Geikie said.
“They have responded by taking bookings way ahead of schedule to head off potential cancellations from the 18,000-plus tourists. It has worked.
“Based on feedback from our tour agents over the past two days, it seems that almost all the bookings could be saved.
“So far, we have recorded about 400 cancellations by those who could not wait any longer for their Mulu tickets to be issued because they had started their tours. The rest of the bookings are still in place and our agents are in the process of issuing the tickets,” she added.
Late last month, the board raised the alarm when Malaysia Airlines cancelled flight bookings to Mulu that were scheduled for after Aug 1.
MAS will hand over 99 non-trunk routes to AirAsia on Aug 1, including the Mulu sector, and has decided not to take any more bookings.
The 18,000-plus tourists, mostly from overseas, needed to get confirmed tickets now because they have to arrange months ahead.
AirAsia last week responded to the board's SOS by asking FAX (its sub-contractor for the rural air service sector) to start accepting bookings on June 12, seven weeks ahead of the Aug 1 official operation date.
Of the 18,000-plus tourists who had served notice that they might have to cancel their confirmed tours to Mulu National Park because of teething flight arrangement complications last month, only about 400 actually cancelled their bookings.
The rest have seemingly maintained their tours to Mulu and are in the process of arranging with travel agents here and their agents abroad to get confirmed tickets to this world heritage site, said Sarawak Tourism Board (STB) chief executive officer Gracie Geikie yesterday.
If each of these tourists spend the projected RM1,800 per person in Malaysia as calculated based on previous tourism statistics, it would mean that some RM31.5mil would be brought into the state.
“The tourism industry players in Sarawak are very grateful to FAX and AirAsia for their very proactive and swift response to our plight,” Geikie said.
“They have responded by taking bookings way ahead of schedule to head off potential cancellations from the 18,000-plus tourists. It has worked.
“Based on feedback from our tour agents over the past two days, it seems that almost all the bookings could be saved.
“So far, we have recorded about 400 cancellations by those who could not wait any longer for their Mulu tickets to be issued because they had started their tours. The rest of the bookings are still in place and our agents are in the process of issuing the tickets,” she added.
Late last month, the board raised the alarm when Malaysia Airlines cancelled flight bookings to Mulu that were scheduled for after Aug 1.
MAS will hand over 99 non-trunk routes to AirAsia on Aug 1, including the Mulu sector, and has decided not to take any more bookings.
The 18,000-plus tourists, mostly from overseas, needed to get confirmed tickets now because they have to arrange months ahead.
AirAsia last week responded to the board's SOS by asking FAX (its sub-contractor for the rural air service sector) to start accepting bookings on June 12, seven weeks ahead of the Aug 1 official operation date.
Source: The Star
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